Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased in July, for the first time in more than a year, according to official data published Wednesday August 7, marking a setback for the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The devastated area in the largest tropical forest on the planet reached 666 km2 last month, an increase of 33% compared to the 500 km2 destroyed in July 2023.
The increase in deforestation in July means a halt to a continuous decline over the last 15 months. However, taking into account the last 12 months, deforestation is down 45.7% compared to the previous period. Thus, while deforestation had destroyed 7,952 km2 between August 2022 and July 2023, over the period August 2023-July 2024 it reached 4,315 km2.
Returning to power in January 2023, Lula promised to end illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030, which had surged under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Deforestation is strongly linked to agricultural expansion and illegal mining. “In July last year the reduction [in deforestation] was very high, with a result well below the historical trend,” Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, said at a press conference on Wednesday to explain the poor result last July. “Over the past year, the reduction is extremely significant,” he insisted.