By Equipe de Redação
Posted in September 1, 2023
Photo: Greenpeace/Press Release
Deforestation alerts in the Amazon show a significant drop in 2023, indicating a positive shift in the fight against forest devastation. Governments, companies, and sustainability initiatives play crucial roles in this conservation process.
Contrary to the trend of increasing deforestation in the Amazon observed in previous years, new data from the Deter system, developed by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) and released by the Ministry of the Environment in early August, reveal a significant reduction in deforestation alerts.
From January to July 2023, the drop was an impressive 42.5%, and in July alone, the reduction compared to the same period in 2022 reached 66%. The year 2023 already shows a reduction of 7.4%, offering prospects for a decrease in forest devastation later this year.
This marks the second-lowest number of alerts recorded since the beginning of the historical Deter series in 2015. Furthermore, the data indicates that in July of this year, 500 square kilometers (km2) of the Amazon rainforest were deforested, in contrast to the 1,487 km2 deforested in the same month the previous year. From August 2022 to July 2023, the total area of alerts amounted to 7,952 km2, compared to the 8,590 km2 recorded in the same interval between 2021 and 2022.
The Deter system plays a crucial role in monitoring deforestation in the Amazon in near-real-time through satellite images, providing timely information to assist the enforcement conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).
However, it is important to note that these data are less precise than those from the Monitoring of Legal Amazon Deforestation by Satellite (Prodes), which annually calculates the official deforestation rate.
In April of this year, Inpe released the consolidated results of Prodes regarding deforestation in the Amazon for the period between August 2021 and July 2022. During this period, the deforestation rate was 11,594 km2, representing an 11.08% reduction compared to 2021.
Major Deforesters
It is important to highlight that the states of Pará, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, and Rondônia were responsible for 87.65% of the registered deforestation. However, these numbers do not reflect the pre-election period of 2022, between August and October, when deforestation alerts spiked.
Amazonas and Amapá Have 95% of Native Forest, Highest Rates in the Country
Over the years, Prodes analysis has revealed fluctuations in deforestation in the Amazon. During the Lula administration (2003 to 2010), there was a reduction, reaching its lowest point during Dilma Rousseff’s terms (2010 to 2016), when it reached 4,571 km2.
However, under Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, deforestation increased considerably, reaching 13,038 km2 in 2021.
Brazil on the Right Path
According to Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (IEA-USP) and co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, Brazil is moving in the right direction to achieve the goal of zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
He emphasizes that over 90% of deforestation in the region is illegal, but the actions of the federal and state governments are proving effective, resulting in a rapid reduction.
The main cause of forest devastation is still the expansion of livestock farming, often involving illegal deforestation, including land grabbing. Some of these lands are in the process of land regularization by the National Congress. Nobre emphasizes that many ranchers sell their land to soybean growers, and soy grown on already legalized lands is acquired by large companies.
However, Nobre believes it is possible to reverse the trend of illegal deforestation, citing the example of 2012 when deforestation in the Amazon dropped by 83% compared to 2004.
He highlights that, while it is desirable to achieve the goal of zero deforestation as a government policy before 2030, the climate emergency may require an even faster reduction, perhaps by 2025 or 2026.
Optimism in Deforestation Reduction
Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) and coordinator of Mapbiomas Fogo, also expresses optimism about the reduction of deforestation in the Amazon in the coming years. She praises the current government’s new approach to environmental issues, involving the coordination of strategic actions across various ministries to combat deforestation more effectively.
In collaboration with the federal government, the States of the Legal Amazon Brasileira (ALB) play a crucial role in the fight against deforestation and forest preservation.
Practical Actions
Amazonas and Pará, for example, are adopting a series of measures to expedite environmental licensing, strengthen enforcement, combat wildfires, support municipalities, prioritize family farming through the Rural Environmental Cadastre (CAR), and promote the bioeconomy.
These initiatives are already producing significant results. Amazonas recorded a reduction of over 80% in Deter alerts in July compared to 2022 and a 62% decrease in the first half of this year.
In the past, the state led the deforestation list, which, according to Eduardo Taveira, Secretary of the Environment of Amazonas, was due to the economic model based on agricultural commodities such as soy, livestock, and mining, leading to deindustrialization.
In Pará, deforestation dropped by 39% from January to July 2023, according to Deter. Mauro O’ de Almeida, Secretary of the Environment and Sustainability of the state, attributes this improvement to the hiring of a hundred inspectors, a significant increase compared to the previous ten professionals.
This action resulted in a reduction of over 50% in deforestation in July 2023 compared to the same month in 2022.
The so-called Curupira Operations also contributed to a 40% reduction in the participation of municipalities with the highest deforestation rates.
Amazon Fund
In the Lula administration, the analysis of 14 projects that had already passed the eligibility or framing stage, a process prior to approval and contracting, resumed.
In addition, the Steering Committee of the Amazon Fund (Cofa ) announced in July of this year the updating of guidelines and criteria for the use of resources over the next two years. Until July 2025, the fund aims to support projects aligned with the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm), which was relaunched by the current government.
Initiatives focused on traditional communities, family farming, public forest recovery, and land regularization will be prioritized.
Other goals include strengthening deforestation enforcement on private lands registered in CAR and supporting sustainable productive activities.
In addition to the efforts of the federal and state governments, various companies are also adopting effective environmental sustainability actions. Biofílica Ambipar, with over 15 years of experience in the carbon credit market, aims to make forest conservation economically viable.
The company is involved in 13 projects in the Amazon, one in the Pantanal, and another for the restoration of the Atlantic Forest. Its most significant project, Jari, in the Amazon, covers an area of 900 thousand hectares of native forest.
Another project in the region, Jacundá, takes place within an extractive reserve involving more than 60 families. These projects are classified as REDD+, focused on reducing emissions due to deforestation and degradation.
Biofílica Ambipar is on track to reach 5 million tons of carbon credits, double its capacity two years ago, and aims to achieve 10 million tons per year before 2030, as well as diversify its activities.
Vale, one of the largest companies in the country, is also involved in various projects that contribute to the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. Over the past ten years, the company has invested over R$ 1 billion in protection, research, territorial development, and support for culture. Eduardo Bartolomeo, President of Vale, highlights the company’s involvement in ecosystem protection, education, partnerships for local development, and the strengthening of sustainable businesses, both directly and through private social investment vehicles.
The Vale Fund, for example, has provided significant resources over 13 years, allocating R$ 269 million by December 2022 to 109 projects. These resources benefited 80 partners, 80 municipalities, protected 23 million hectares of areas, accelerated 324 businesses with positive socio-environmental impacts, benefited 18.5 thousand rural producers and extractivists, and contributed to the recovery of 7,392 hectares through impact businesses.
A notable example is the Vale Fund’s investment in 2020 in the creation of the company Belterra, which aims to produce 60 thousand tons of cocoa, equivalent to the total production of Pará, generating 2 thousand direct rural jobs and thousands more along the logistics chain, as well as promoting a processing industry in the state.
The total expected investment to reach the 40 thousand hectares of Belterra’s agroforestry cocoa systems is R$ 1.2 billion, with an average cost of R$ 30 thousand per hectare.
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