1.120 km² of forest were destroyed in June 2022, an increase of around 5% compared to the same period last year, when the affected area was 1.061 km².
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For comparison purposes, the city of Rio de Janeiro has 1.200 km². This means that the total deforestation is equivalent to 93% of the total area of the capital.
Inpe data reveals that 3.971 km² have been destroyed so far this year. In the first quarter of the year, 940 km² of area was deforested. In the second quarter, deforestation tripled, reaching 3.031 km².
One of the factors that favor the increase in illegal deforestation is the lack of punishment. According to a study carried out by the Institute of Man and the Environment (Imazon), only 8% of Amazônia Protege actions, an MPF program that combats irregular actions in the region, resulted in convictions for deforesters.
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Recently, another Inpe report pointed out that the number of recorded fires in the region were the largest in fifteen years for the month of June.
What is the Legal Amazon?
The Legal Amazon corresponds to an area of 5.015.067,75 km², which was established by law in 2007. The surface is present in nine Brazilian states (Rondônia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Pará, Amapá, Tocantins, Mato Grosso and Maranhão) and covers approximately 58,9% of the entire Brazilian territory, according to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
(Top photo: Reproduction/Wikimedia Commons)
