Check the data on deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon in April 2012.
In April 2012, the Sistema de Alerta de Desmatamento (SAD – Deforestation Alert System) has detected 71 square km of deforestation in the Legal Amazon. This represented a decrease of 76% compared to April 2011 when deforestation totaled 298.3 square km. Due to the high cloud cover, it was possible to monitor only 20% of forest area in the Legal Amazon in April 2012, whereas that in April 2011, 31% were monitored in the same area.
The accumulated deforestation from August 2011 to April 2012 totaled 830 square km. There was a reduction of 35% over the previous period (August 2010 to April 2011) when deforestation totaled 1268 square kilometers. In April 2012, the majority (71%) of the deforestation occurred in Mato Grosso. Then appears Rondônia with 18% and Amazonas with 5%. The remainder (6%) occurred in Pará, Roraima and Acre.
The degraded forests in the Amazon amounted to only 21 square kilometers in April 2012. Compared to April 2011, when forest degradation totaled 1,776 square km, there was a reduction of 99%. The degradation was detected only in Mato Grosso.
The forest degradation accumulated in the period (August 2011 to April 2012) reached 1589 square kilometers. In the previous period (August 2010 to April 2011), when degradation amounted to 5887 square kilometers, a reduction of 73%.
In April 2012, the deforestation detected by SAD endangered 4.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent. In the accumulated of the period (August 2011 – April 2012) the equivalent CO2 emissions endangered with deforestation totaled 58.2 million tons, representing a reduction of 24% over the previous period (August 2010 to April 2011.
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