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New data from a Norwegian nonprofit is generating fresh concerns about humanity s destruction of the natural world, revealing Monday that people have ravaged about two-thirds of original tropical rainforest cover globally.
The Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) analysis found that human activities including logging and land-use changes often for farming have destroyed 34% of old-growth tropical rainforests and degraded 30% worldwide.
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RFN defined degraded forests as those that are partly destroyed or fully wiped out but replaced by more recent growth. The group s definition for intact forest, considered too strict by some experts, includes only areas that are at least 500 square kilometers or 193 square miles; trees and biodiversity are at greater risk in smaller zones.
Jan 28 2021 Read 523 Times
Deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon Rainforest has reached its highest levels for over a decade, according to new data published by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Last year, a total of 4,281 square miles of forest cover were razed to the ground in Brazil, which is an area larger than the Big Island in Hawaii.
It’s the biggest deforestation incident since 2008, when 4,984 square miles were destroyed. While the news is certainly distressing, it’s far from surprising, since Amazon deforestation has been steadily getting worse since the lows experienced in 2012. The presidency of right-wing anti-environmentalist Jair Bolsonaro and the distractions of COVID-19 have only exacerbated the issue, leading to this year’s record-breaking figures.
Lack of protection leaves Spain-size swath of Brazilian Amazon up for grabs
by Jenny Gonzales on 8 January 2021
Fifty million hectares (124 million acres) of undesignated forest in the Brazilian Amazon, an area the size of Spain, is under growing threat of illegal occupation and deforestation facilitated by a controversial government land registry.
A Greenpeace Brazil study shows 62% of undesignated forest along a stretch of the BR-163 Highway has been illegally invaded and then registered by the occupiers with the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR).
CAR, a self-declaratory system, was created in 2012 to help identify those responsible for rural plots, however, combined with the current weakening of environmental agencies and of field actions against deforestation, it’s helping legitimize land grabbing.