Amazon deforestation: Bolsonaro government accused of seeking to sow doubt over data
Source: The Guardian
Amazon deforestation: Bolsonaro government accused of seeking to sow doubt over data
Ministers look at setting up alternative monitoring scheme as existing system shows alarming rise in clearance rates
Jonathan Watts
@jonathanwatts
Thu 1 Aug 2019 02.59 BST Last modified on Thu 1 Aug 2019 18.30 BST
The Amazon forest is being burned and chopped down at the most alarming rate in recent memory, but the Brazilian government of Jair Bolsonaro is focused on reinterpreting the data rather than dealing with the culprits, monitoring groups have said.
At a clearance rate equivalent to a Manhattan island every day, deforestation in July was almost twice as fast as the worst month ever recorded by the current satellite monitoring system, which is managed by the government’s National Institute for Space Research.
Over the single month, the latest data shows destruction of more than 1,800 square kilometres, which is pushing the world’s biggest rainforest towards an irreversible tipping point and eroding a globally essential sink for carbon dioxide.
After an international outcry, the Brazilian government – which is closely aligned with the loggers, miners and farmers responsible for most of the forest loss – held a special meeting on Wednesday of ministers and senior officials from the environment ministry, the science and technology ministry, and agencies responsible for satellites and forest protection.
The primary topic, according to several sources, was a review of the data collection system, which has come under attack from Bolsonaro and other ministers who have been embarrassed by the evidence from their own government that Brazil is moving in the opposite direction from the deforestation control commitments it made as a signatory to the Paris climate treaty.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/01/amazon-deforestation-bolsonaro-government-accused-doubt-data
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