Amazon Rainforest at Lowest Rates of Deforestation Since 2016

For decades now, the Amazon Rainforest has been subject to violent human activity including burning clearings with fire, chopping down trees, and destroying fragile ecosystems of animal and plant life. It is known as one of the most biodiverse places on earth where over 3 million species of animals, bugs, and plants live. In fact, it is home to over 2,500 unique species of trees alone. Currently, 60 percent of the forest is in Brazil with other parts in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Efforts to preserve and protect the Amazon have been proven to have made progress as we are now seeing a decrease in the levels of deforestation present in the Amazon. According to satellite data from the Brazilian government last week, deforestation has slowed down to half of last year’s rates, which has brought it down to its lowest levels since 2016. Much of it has occurred under the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been in office since 2022 and pledged to completely end deforestation by 2030. Former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) was often criticized for his lack of overt support for the rainforest, with illegal logging and fires rising during his time as president. These recent findings have been mostly preliminary and more accurate calculations are expected in November 2024, the Associated Press reported.

“The fact that we’re still seeing these massive declines compared to last year and previous years in July, I think is very significant,” Mikaela Weisse, the director of the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch previously told CNN. “Lula and his administration are taking deforestation much more seriously than his predecessor.”

It can be hard to imagine the full scope and scale of the Amazon rainforest simply because of its size of 2.72 million square miles. As the largest rainforest in the world, it is twice the size of India or about the size of the U.S. It also is home to 20 percent of all the fresh water on the planet and is key to slowing down global climate change because of the carbon dioxide it absorbs. Unfortunately, it’s been forced to lose much of its impressive square footage because of human activity, especially cattle ranching, soybean farming, roads, and dam construction. This deeply impacts not only the millions of species who live there but also the Indigenous groups who are native to the area and whose livelihood relies on the preservation of the forest.

Over the past year alone, satellite data revealed that the Amazon lost about 1,700 square miles, the size of the continental Rhode Island. That may sound like a lot but it was actually a 46 percent decrease in deforestation rates compared to the year prior. That said, the Cerrado, Brazil’s other natural ecosystem, has seen deforestation rates increase by nine percent because of soybean farming, which contributes to the country’s biggest export, has largely moved out of the Amazon and into this savannah. However, savannahs are considered less important than forests, even though having multiple biodiverse ecosystems is essential to preventing and slowing down the effects of climate change, as well as preserving wildlife.

“The Cerrado has become a ‘sacrificed biome.’ Its topography lends itself to mechanized, large-scale commodity production,” Society, Population and Nature Institute spokesperson Isabel Figueiredo told the AP.

Looking ahead, the government is working on a plan to slow down deforestation in the region using satellite monitoring and law enforcement. Critics say that these protections are not enough and that efforts need to expand to creating new protected areas in and outside of Indigenous territory, replanting cattle pastures that have been destroyed or abandoned, and preventing the financial district from funding and profiting off the Amazon’s deforestation. It remains to be seen if President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will follow through on his campaign promise.