Check the data on deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon in May 2012.
Martins, H., Fonseca, A., Souza Jr., C., Sales, M., & Veríssimo, A. (2012). Forest Transparency for the Brazilian Amazon (May 2012) (p. 13). Belém.
In May 2012, the Sistema de Alerta de Desmatamento (SAD – Deforestation Alert System) has detected 42,5 square km of deforestation in the Legal Amazon. This represented a decrease of 74% compared to May 2011 when deforestation totaled 165 square km. Due to the cloud cover, it was possible to monitor only 46% of the territory, a value almost equal to May 2011 (47%).
The accumulated deforestation from August 2011 to May 2012 totaled 873 square km. There was a reduction of 39% over the previous period (August 2010 to May 2011) when deforestation totaled 1,435 square kilometers.
In May 2012, half of the deforestation occurred in Pará. Then appears Mato Grosso with 26% and Rondônia with 9% The remainder (15%) occurred in the Amazon, Tocantins and Acre.
The degraded forests in the Amazon
amounted to only 370,5 square kilometers in May 2012. Compared to May 2011, when forest degradation totaled 249 square km, there was a reduction of 50%. Almost all (98%) of this degradation occurred in Mato Grosso.
The forest degradation accumulated in the period (August 2011 to May 2012) reached 1,960 square kilometers. In the previous period (August 2010 to May 2011), when degradation amounted to 6,081 square kilometers, a reduction of 68%.
In May 2012, the deforestation detected by SAD endangered 1.06 million tons of CO2 equivalent. In the accumulated of the period (August 2011 – May 2012) the equivalent CO2 emissions endangered with deforestation totaled 60.2 million tons, representing a reduction of 28% over the previous period (August 2010 to May 2011).
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