Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest halved last year, according to official figures released on Friday.
The news marks a victory for left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had pledged to resolutely fight the phenomenon. Conversely, in the southern Cerrado savannah, adjacent to the Amazon, deforestation hit an annual peak: a 43% increase compared to 2022 according to the governmental deforestation surveillance programme.
A total of 5,152 km2 of forest were destroyed in the Amazon last year, down 50% from 2022. The world's largest tropical rainforest plays a critical role in combatting climate change, primarily through carbon emission absorption.
Simultaneously, the Cerrado, a biodiverse ecosystem intricately linked to the Amazon, lost more than 7,800 km2 of vegetation last year – the highest figure since records began in 2018.
"We witnessed great environmental victories in 2023. One of these is the significant reduction of deforestation in the Amazon," commented Mariana Napolitano, of WWF-Brazil.
"Unfortunately we didn’t see the same trend in the Cerrado," she added, highlighting the "damages" to this ecosystem and its "services".
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Environmental advocacy organisations have accused President Lula's government of turning a blind eye to the Cerrado’s destruction, certainly less globally renowned than the Amazon, to satisfy Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector.
In total, 12,980 km2 was clear-felled across both regions in 2023, an 18% reduction compared to 2022.
