Satellite Data Reveals Amazon Rain Forest Has Lost 740 Sq Km Forest Cover In Just 1 Month!

Humans have been cutting trees and destroying forest cover relentlessly. Years of destruction has resulted in concrete jungles that do no good, but add to the already increasing levels of pollution.?

Reuters

The Amazon Rainforest is facing one of the worst consequence of human disruption.

According to a Reuters report,?deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil sped up in May to the fastest rate in a decade, according to data from an early-warning satellite system.?

It seems that the reign of President Jair Bolsonaro has accelerated the deforestation of the world's largest forest cover.

Who is?president Jair Bolsonaro and what does he have to do with? deforestation??

Reuters

According to a?Human Rights Watch report, 'Bolsonaro, a pro-torture, openly bigoted member of Congress, won a run-off election on October 28, 2018 and he took office in January 2019.?

Since then he has been freely sanctioning illegal logging, farming and mining.

Earlier this year, there were reports that said that Bolsonaro plans to lift Brazil out of the Paris agreement. Reports allege that new ministers of environment and foreign affairs headed by him have abolished the sections within their ministries that dealt with climate change.

A?Washington Post report?claims that?Bolsonaro wants privatize vast swaths of the forest, turning it over to agribusiness and mining. On top of that, he also plans to expand hydropower and nuclear power in the region and has stymied interference from any outside environmental group.?

Reuters

The data adds to concerns from environmentalists who warn that Bolsonaro’s five-month-old government has dismantled conservation agencies, shown skepticism about fighting climate change and cut the budget to enforce environmental laws.

What do the Satellite data reveal??

The world’s greatest rainforest – which is a vital provider of oxygen and carbon sequestration – lost 740 sq km during the 31 days.?

Now, that's not just alarming for the people living in the nearby areas, but the world as a whole.?Reuters?reported that satellite images of the Brazilian Amazon rain forest show a rapid increase in deforestation in May.

AP

While May is a particularly dry month in the area, things got worse with Bolsonaro inhuman approach.?

The deforestation this May is 25 percent higher than it was last May, and double compared to what it was two years ago.

The repercussions may now be irreversible

“If this upward curve continues, we could have a bad year for the Amazon forest,” Claudio Almeida, head of INPE’s satellite monitoring program, said on Tuesday. “It will depend on how much policing there is in the next two critical months,” he added.

Reuters

Brazil’s environmental protection agency IBAMA, which has been starved of funds in recent years, lost authority when he took office in January, and the forestry commission was moved to the Agriculture Ministry, which is run by farm industry allies.

The Amazon is the single most important ecosystem?for fighting climate change. The forest has shown it's capability to combat extreme temperatures, and to see it suffer the consequences of mindless human greed is deeply saddening for humanity as a whole.