The extent of illegal logging in Brazil’s rainforest has increased distinctly this year. Meanwhile, Norway pays more support to Brazil as a reward because deforestation is supposedly much lower than it was in the 2000s.
The new estimates of deforestation have been published by Brazil’s aerospace institute (INPE), which monitors the rainforest by satellite.
7989 square kilometers were cut illegally in the Brazilian portion of the Amazon from August, 2015, to July this year, reported the journal Nature. That was a 29% increase on the previous twelve months.
‘This is very bad news. Brazil’s previous success in reducing deforestation has stopped. In recent years, deforestation has increased’, said Lars Løvold, the leader of the organization, The Rainforest Foundation (Regnskogfondets).
Deforestation is now at its highest level in eight years; however, the pace is considerably less than in the mid-2000s, when deforestation began to sink.
A serious situation
Norway has contributed large sums of money in its efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil. The support is part of the Norwegian Rainforest initiative, which aims to prevent both the extinction of species, and the release of greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation.
On Thursday, the Climate and Environment Ministry enlightened the public with the information that a new payment of 850 million has been transacted. The payoff is a reward for deforestation, from a historical perspective, being relatively low in 2015.
The Climate and Environment Minister, Vidar Helgesen, emphasized that both the Norwegian and Brazilian authorities are extremely concerned that the development has moved in the wrong direction in recent years.
‘The situation is extremely serious, and immediate action is needed’, Helgesen said in a statement.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
