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The Brazilian Amazon has lost more than 9,000 square kilometers of virgin vegetation so far this year, according to official data released Friday by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Between January 1 and October 21 of this year (the latest data available), satellites issued deforestation alerts for 9,277 square kilometers, the agency reported.
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This is the worst number in the entire history of Deter, INPE's Real Time Deforestation Detection (Deter) system.
Even with two months left in the year, that mark already surpasses the entire year of 2019, the worst to date, when 9,178 square kilometers of forest were lost.
Fires and deforestation in the Amazon have broken records year after year during the mandate of President Jair Bolsonaro, who always denied the problem and encouraged the practice of environmental crimes, such as illegal mining, for example.
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