Deforestation declines in Brazil's Amazon as govt approves more indigenous reserves

Deforestation declined by 66 per cent in the Brazilian Amazon in the month of August compared to the same month last year, said the government on Tuesday (September 5), while further announcing the approval of two new indigenous reserves.

"In August, we had a reduction of 66.11 per cent in deforestation" in the share of Brazil in the biggest rainforest in the world, said Environment Minister Marina Silva, while addressing a ceremony that marked Amazon Day.

As per satellite monitoring carried out by the Space Research Institute of Brazil INPE, deforestation wiped out 1,661 square kilometres (641 square miles) in the Brazilian Amazon in August 2022, during the government of far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

"These results show the determination of the Lula administration to break the cycle of abandonment and regression seen under the previous government," Minister Silva said.

"If we don't protect the forest and its people, we'll condemn the world to a brutal increase of CO2 emissions and, as a result, accelerating climate change,” he added.

Approval of Indigenous reserves

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after coming to power in January, had promised to protect the threatened Amazon whose carbon-absorbing trees have become a vital buffer against global warming.

The most important thing for the pledge is indigenous reserves, said the researchers who are considered bulwarks against deforestation.

"If there is no future for the Amazon and its people, there will be no future for the planet either," said Lulain his announcement about the two new reserves.

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In April, the government issued decrees that recognised six new Indigenous territories and gave authority to the Indigenous peoples to occupy the land and exclusively enjoy the use of its resources.

On Tuesday, the government said that another six are likely to be demarcated by the end of the year.

There are some 800 reserves in the country and almost a third of them have not been demarcated officially, according to the Indigenous Affairs Agency of Brazil. Under the regime of Bolsonaro, no new reserves were demarcated.

The demarcations of the 18,000-hectare (44,000-acre) Acapuri de Cima reserve and the 187,000-hectare (462,000-acre) Rio Gregorio reserve comes at a time the nation has been waiting for an important decision that could derail or enshrine Indigenous gains.

(With inputs from agencies)

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