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A creek in the Brazilian Amazon Alamy Stock Photo

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon fell by 59% in September compared to the same month last year

Under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation of the Amazon had jumped 75% compared to the average of the previous decade.

DEFORESTATION IN THE Brazilian Amazon fell by 59 percent in September compared to the same month last year, official data showed, confirming a positive trend that began after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to power this year.

However, it hit new highs in the tropical savannah region known as the Cerrado, south of the Amazon, which has been hit by incursions from farming companies.

Some 590 square kilometers (230 square miles) were deforested last month in the Brazilian part of the world’s largest tropical forest, compared to around 1,454 square kilometers in September 2022, according to satellite data collected by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Veteran leftist Lula, who previously held office from 2003 to 2010, began his third term in January with a promise to make preserving the Amazon a priority and to do everything possible to eradicate illegal deforestation by 2030.

former-president-lula-during-his-campaign-to-be-re-elected-president-of-brazil-in-october-2022-in-the-city-of-belo-horizonte-state-of-minas-gerais President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), deforestation of the Amazon had jumped 75 percent compared to the average of the previous decade.

Between January and September 2023, the total deforested area was 4,302 square kilometers, approximately half as much as recorded over the same period in 2022.

However the situation continues to deteriorate in the Cerrado region, a tropical savannah rich in biodiversity and increasingly affected by deforestation, mainly due to the advance of agro-business.

Some 516 square kilometers were deforested in September, a jump of 89 percent compared to the same month of 2022, and a record for a month of September since data collection began in 2018.

sao-paulo-brazil-on-august-9-2018-brazilian-presidential-candidate-jair-bolsonaro-psl-speaks-during-the-first-presidential-debate-ahead-of-the-october-7-general-election-at-bandeirantes-televi Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

In the Amazon, September is generally a dry month, but the region is currently experiencing an exceptionally severe drought, aggravated by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has caused the level of some rivers to drop considerably.

The government promised this week to commit additional resources to ensure the supply of water and food to the affected populations in the state of Amazonas, the hardest hit by the drought.

© AFP 2023 

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    Mute mary cooke
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    Oct 6th 2023, 11:27 PM

    Good man Lula, way to go!!!

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    Mute John finn
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    Oct 6th 2023, 11:37 PM

    Just stop buying Brazilian beef…. They will always be deforestation there. Europe imports of Brazilian beef have increased 23 precent 2023. While China has banned it. Well done European Union.

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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Oct 6th 2023, 11:40 PM

    @John finn: Individual countries within the EU, perhaps, which can take the blame. Not the EU per se.

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    Mute David
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    Oct 7th 2023, 3:30 AM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Under the umbrella of the EU and the EU allow it, so yes, it is the EU.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Oct 7th 2023, 6:15 AM

    @Brendan O’Brien: Individual corporations, within the EU.

    Within the EU which controls trade, and allows it.

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    Mute Timo
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    Oct 7th 2023, 2:48 PM

    @John finn: it must be fairly toxic of China banned it

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    Mute Brendan Godley
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    Oct 6th 2023, 11:32 PM

    Does this mean we can’t import as much Amazon rain forest mulsh to generate our green energy this year

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    Mute Seanfhear míshásta
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    Oct 7th 2023, 2:02 AM

    Well done Lula!

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    Mute Pato
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    Oct 7th 2023, 9:37 AM

    Good man Lula. Stop being distracted by beef imports, a bigger problem is soy imports to Ireland to feed our famous “grass fed” cattle. Deforestation is used to clear space to grow soy.

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    Mute eoin fitzpatrick
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    Oct 7th 2023, 9:43 AM

    @Pato: and our pigs and chickens

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    Mute Steve O'Hara Smith.
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    Oct 7th 2023, 12:11 PM

    Sometimes I think it’s a little hypocritical to complain about deforestation in other countries, after all the only reason we’re not doing the same thing is that here in Europe we ran out of forest to de centuries ago.

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    Mute Timo
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    Oct 7th 2023, 2:45 PM

    Amazing, a desire by government to import beef from Brazil and Argentina who cut down the rainforests to make way for Grazing cattle and growing soy crops.
    Cull 50% of the Herd in Ireland, and the population growing like wildfire. Let’s eat grass
    You will have 1845 back again before you know it.

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    Mute Paul Moloney
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    Oct 7th 2023, 10:30 AM

    Just cut the whole thing down and move on to the next forestry

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    Mute Monetpenny
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    Oct 7th 2023, 10:34 PM

    I have seen reports that as they remove amazon forests they are finding the ruins of ancient cities. This is evidence that there were civilisations previously where there are now forests. There are more forests in these areas than there was previously.
    A north American example is the ancient native American ruin (Cahokia) outside St. Louis in Missouri that dates from approx 1050-1350. At it’s height it was the largest human settlement in the world. The ‘Americas’ were much more ‘civilised’ & settled hundreds of years. These were more recently overrun by forests & the deforestation that is taking place is returning to the state that existed hundreds of years ago.

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