translated from Spanish: Compared to last year, Amazonder deforestation increased by 278%

The Brazilian Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world: it is home to at least 10% of the planet’s biodiversity and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world. In the last year, he experienced an increase in deforestation never seen before. So far in 2019, satellite data from INPE (Brazil’s National Space Research Institute) have shown— by accurate statistics on deforestation through satellite surveillance—that 4,699 km2 have been deforestation in the Amazon, compared to 2,810 km2 of the same period during the previous year. Since his assumption as president on the first of January this year, Jair Bolsonaro has been disinterested in protecting the Amazon, either through his statements or environmental policies. Prior to the publication of this data, the engineer and then director of INPE, Ricardo Galvao, had been fired by Bolsonaro with the intention of having a private company monitor the deforestation of the Amazon. Faced with the Brazilian president’s accusations against Galvao for lying about data and being at the service of NGOs, he responded that he defended the dignity of science, not only for Brazilian scientists but for all scientists. “Our data should never be constrained by political interests,” he added. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro claims to be convinced that the data is false and contends that no country has the moral right to speak about the Amazon.In this note:

Original source in Spanish