The deforestation rate in the Amazon in 2021 was the highest in the last ten years. This information was disclosed by the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) on January 17th.

In total, 10,362 square kilometers (km²) of native forest were deforested from January to December last year, according to data from Imazon’s Deforestation Alert System (SAD). The system has used satellite images to monitor the Amazon region since 2012.  The destroyed area is equivalent to eight cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

In 2021, the rate of deforestation was 29% higher than the previous year, when more than 8,000 km² of forest were destroyed, as highlighted by the non-governmental organization (NGO).

In an official news flash on its website, Imazon stated that the negative annual record is extremely serious in the face of the consequences of this destruction. The institute points out that the effects of the increase in deforestation include the change in the rainfall regime, the loss of biodiversity, the threat to the survival of traditional peoples and communities, and the intensification of global warming.

Larissa Amorim, a researcher at Imazon, points out the need to increase monitoring, especially in areas where there has been greater devastation, and to impose fines on those who deforest illegally.

Pará was the state with the largest ​​deforestation area, with 4,037 km², 39% of what was recorded for the entire Amazon region. In second place is Amazonas, also the state with the highest increase in forest destruction from 2020 to 2021: 49%. Of the nine states that make up Brazil’s Legal Amazon (BLA) region, Amapá was the only one that did not show an increase in deforestation in 2021 in comparison to 2020.

Glossary

Brazil’s Legal Amazon (BLA): concept created by the Brazilian government in 1953 to plan the economic development of the region. In the states that make up the Legal Amazon region (Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins), there are other types of biomes, such as the cerrado, in addition to stretches of Amazon Forest.

Questions
1) Which of the alternatives is true?
a) The increase in deforestation in 2021 is second only to that of 2020.
b) This decade has never had as much deforestation as in 2021.
c) The state with the highest increase in forest destruction was Pará.
d) There was no deforestation in Amapá last year.

2) What measures should be taken to reduce deforestation?

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