Brazil says it reduced Amazon deforestation 66.11% in August, “a significant mark for its environmental policy as destruction often spikes this time of year,” Reuters reports.
Citing satellite data from Brazilian space research agency INPE, Environment Minister Marina Silva said rainforest loss fell to 563 square kilometres (217.38 square miles) last month, the news agency says.
“Some experts feared the significant drop of more than 40% in deforestation seen in the first seven months of Lula’s administration could have been put at risk by higher destruction in August and September, when the weather turns drier,” Reuters writes. But the latest numbers “give President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reasons to cheer as he has promised to end deforestation in the region by 2030 after destruction surged under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who slashed environmental protection efforts.”
On social media, Lula called the decline the “result of the great work of the Environment Ministry and the federal government.”
For the first eight months of the year, forest loss is down 48% compared to the same period in 2022.
