With information from ASCOM/MMA and INPE
Deforestation in the Legal Amazon was 18% lower in the period 2013-2014 compared to 2012-2013, according to preliminary data from Brazil’s National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE). Since 2004, when the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAM) was launched, deforestation in the region was reduced by 82.5%. "Brazil is able to reaffirm its climate policy in the international community", said the Minister of the Environment, Izabella Teixeira. INPE registered 4,848 km² of deforestation, the second lowest rate in history. The Institute will present consolidated data for 2014 in the following months, which may vary 10% above or below the estimated value. According to Minister Izabella, the drop is due to factors such as the work of inspection teams and the task force for the environmental regulation of Brazilian rural properties. "The figures may also indicate that many people who used to bet on illegality now prefer to regularize their properties under the Rural Environmental Registry," analyzed Izabella. The PRODES monitoring system registers clearcutting data in the Legal Amazon. Its monitoring period runs from August 1 of a given year to July 31 of the following year. PRODES uses Landsat satellite images and computes as deforestation areas larger than 6.25 hectares where there was complete removal of forest cover.
Source: INPE/PRODES
*Preliminary data