Imazon data: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was the highest in 10 years for the third month in a row

Deforested area in May 2021 reached 1.125 km², 70% more than the same month in 2020

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has broken a new negative record. According to Imazon, a research center that monitors the rainforest through satellite images since 2008, the deforested area reached 1,125 km² in May 2021. This number represents the highest deforestation in 10 years for May and is the third consecutive month that destruction in the biome has broken a record in a decade. March and April also registered the worst rates since 2012. Only compared with May 2020, the deforestation in May 2021 was 70% higher.

“This significant increase in May is very worrying because we are entering the dry season, which in most parts of the Brazilian Amazon occurs between June and September when historically the peaks of deforestation for the year are registered”, explains Antonio Fonseca, Imazon’s researcher.

Data for May 2021 also showed that only two of the nine states in the Brazilian Amazon recorded 60% of all deforestation in the biome: Pará and Amazonas. Both added up to 688 km² of deforested area in the period. Tap here to read the full report (in Portuguese).