Watch: Timelapse video of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

Deforestation in Brazil'sAmazonrainforestfell in September for the third straight month compared to a year ago, government data showed on Friday, but destruction remains far higher than before President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.

Forestclearances in the world's largest rainforestare down 10 per centin the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released by government space research agency INPE.

September was the 7th highest month for deforestation on record, outstripping any month in the two years preceding Bolsonaro's inauguration.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

A heartwrenching video posted by a YouTube channel Planet posted the rate ofdeforestation at therainforest from May 2017 to September 2020.

"The deforestation numbers continue to be terrible and unacceptable," said Marcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory NGO, who said deforestation alerts used to be measured in hundreds of square kilometers and now they are reported in the thousands.

"Everything that brought us to this scenario of environmental chaos, of uncontrolled deforestation and crime taking hold in theAmazoncontinues to exist," he said.

Environmental advocates blame right-wing Bolsonaro, who has rolled back environmental enforcement and called for mining and farming protected areas of theAmazon, for emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and miners to destroy theforest.

Bolsonaro says he aims to lift the region out of poverty and that the amount offoreststill standing shows Brazil is a model for conservation.

Last week, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called for a world effort to offer $20 billion to endAmazondeforestation and threatened Brazil with unspecified "economic consequences" if it did not "stop tearing down theforest."

In response, Bolsonaro blasted Biden as making cowardly threats to Brazil's sovereignty.

Despite the consecutive months of falling deforestation, Brazil's official deforestation measure for 2020 is expected to show a rise.

Deforestation is measured annually by how muchforesthas been cleared as of the end of July, as compared to the previous August. Those months have less cloud cover that interferes with the satellite images. For that period, deforestation rose 34.6% to 9.216 square kilometers, the preliminary data show.

The final data is generally far higher than the preliminary figures. Brazil'sAmazonEnvironmental Research Institute (IPAM) estimates the final deforestation figure will be above 14,000 square kilometers. That's an area larger than the U.S. state of Connecticut.