- hot-spots
- deforestation
- Brazil
- Illegal deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil
Problems
Illegal logging in the Amazon
The Amazon rain forests are «home» to about three million different species of plants and animals and almost a million indigenous people. They are also essential for reducing the rate of global warming worldwide. While laws exist which authorize logging in designated areas, illegal logging is widespread in Brazil and several Amazon countries. A study by a Brazilian commission showed that 80% of all logging in the Amazon was unlawful during the late 90s. Of the 13 companies that were investigated, 12 had broken the law. Logging operations are set up in remote forest areas and can be characterized by any of the following: ● Use of forged permits; ● Cutting any commercially valuable tree regardless of which ones are protected by law; ● Cutting more than authorized quotas; ● Cutting outside of concession areas; ● Stealing from protected areas and indigenous lands.
What are the impacts of illegal logging?
Whereas sustainable logging can be a long-term source of income for people and the government, logging is often not carried out by such standards. This has several wide-ranging impacts, including fragmentation of species' habitats and significant financial losses. Because the terms for forest concessions are short, companies have few incentives to replant trees or harvest efficiently. The strategy is to obtain as much profit as possible in the available timeframe, leaving many damaged areas that will take years to recover. Patches of the Amazon rainforest are often sold off as significant concessions to firms at prices that are far below their market value. What follows is a rushed effort to maximize yield and profit as fast as possible. Little consideration is given to safeguarding timber stocks for future harvests, and this leads to the usual litany of biodiversity loss, over-hunting of wildlife, and subsequent conversion for agriculture or pasture.
Collateral damage
Although selected logging targets specific commercially valuable trees, logging methods usually result in collateral damage. Surrounding trees may be damaged or brought down unintentionally. Amazon Institute of Man and the Environment has documented that for every commercial tree removed, 27 other trees more than 10 cm in diameter are damaged, 40 m of the road are created and 600 m2 of the canopy is opened4. Once fallen, trees must be transported which may involve using tractors. The erosion that follows logging washes away nutrients and adversely affects streams and rivers. It also takes time for timber to grow back, provided that the logged areas have not been taken over for cattle ranching or cultivation.
Do forests grow back in logged areas?
Scientists have monitored logged areas to determine to what extent logged areas can recover. In Tapajós National Forest in the Brazilian Amazon, a study in terra firma rainforest (forested area not affected by seasonal flooding) that had been logged and left as such in 1979 showed that logging stimulated growth, but this effect was short-lived, lasting only about 3 years. After several years, growth rates become similar to that in forests that have not been logged.
Gallery
6
Timelines
2023
November 10
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell 22% in 2023, according to data released by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE). INPE’s analysis of satellite imagery found that forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon totaled 9,001 square kilometers, an area approximately the size of Puerto Rico. This marks the first time annual deforestation in the Amazon has fallen below 10,000 square kilometers since 2018. INPE’s estimate is preliminary. Final data for the “deforestation year” is expected to come out in the second quarter of 2024. Deforestation in the Amazon nevertheless remains significantly higher than levels seen in the early to mid-2010s. Additionally, a vast swathe of the Amazon is currently experiencing a severe drought, which scientists attribute to the combined effects of climate change and historical deforestation in the region. INPE provided an update on data from its near-real-time deforestation detection system (DETER) which showed that forest clearing in the Amazon has continued to plunge since the end of July. According to DETER, the area deforested in October 2023 amounted to 434 square kilometers, a 52% drop from last October. INPE’s figures are in line with data from Imazon, a Brazilian NGO that independently tracks deforestation.
September 05
Lula signed the demarcation of two new Indigenous lands. The recognition of the two Indigenous reservations grants them legal protection against invasions by illegal loggers, gold miners and cattle ranchers. "We are experiencing a new moment, with more assertive policies and greater political will in favor of the Amazon," WWF-Brasil's director, Mariana Napolitano, said. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon fell 66.11% in August to its lowest level for the month since 2018, Environment Minister Marina Silva said, in a significant mark for its environmental policy as destruction often spikes this time of year. Satellite data from the Brazilian space research agency INPE indicated that 563 square km (217.38 square miles) of rainforest were cleared in the month, a 66.1% drop from the same period a year ago. In the first eight months of the year, INPE's figures showed, deforestation has fallen a cumulative 48% from the same period of 2022. Some experts feared the significant drop of more than 40% in deforestation seen in the first seven months of Lula's administration could have been put at risk by higher destruction in August and September when the weather turns drier. Initial signs, however, are that those concerns did not materialize. Deforestation in the Amazon causes the loss of many species and their habitats, negatively impacts indigenous people and their health, causes fire, an increase in CO2 emission, soil erosion, flooding, desertification, pollution of rivers and lands, and negatively alters the water cycle around the world.
August 09
Brazil hosted a major rainforest summit, where eight Amazon nations agreed to a list of unified environmental policies and measures to bolster regional cooperation but failed to agree on a common goal for ending deforestation.
March 10
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest rose to the highest level on record for the month, preliminary official data showed. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on Jan. 1, pledging to end illegal logging after years of surging deforestation under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Experts and environmental officials have warned it could take years to significantly lower deforestation after Bolsonaro cut funding and staff at key agencies. "Until law enforcement and control take over the entire region, illegal loggers may exploit that to ramp up this deforestation." Space research agency Inpe's data showed 322 square km (124 square miles) were cleared in the region last month, up 62% from February 2022 and well above the average of 166 square km for the period. With the environment ministry once again led by the environmentalist Marina Silva, who oversaw a sharp drop in deforestation in the same role during Lula’s first term in office, the government has reactivated the Amazon Fund, a key tool for the preservation, and recreated a civil society council on the environment – both abandoned under Bolsonaro. Silva has also brushed off and updated a deforestation prevention and control plan that formed the backbone of her successful policies nearly two decades ago. These are important steps, but “innovation is necessary, as the Amazon today is not the same as it was 10, 20 years ago”, said a Greenpeace Brazil spokesperson, Rômulo Batista.
2022
February 14
The number of trees felled in Brazil on the Amazon in January this year, was 5 times higher than in January last year. This is evidenced by data obtained from satellites. Environmentalists blame Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for accelerating the rate of logging. The latest satellite data from Brazil's Inpe space agency has again called into question the commitment of Brazilian authorities to protect the country's rainforests. «The new data again showed how the government's actions contradict its greening campaigns», said Christian Mazzetti of Greenpeace Brazil.
2021
November 19
The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has increased by 22% over the last year, reaching a record level for 15 years. This is reported by the BBC regarding the report of the Space Research Agency (INPE). According to the agency's report, between August 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021, about 13,235 square kilometers of forest were lost, the highest amount since 2006. Brazilian Environment Minister Joaquim Leite said that «we have to be more decisive about these crimes», but noted that the data does not accurately reflect the situation of recent months. Earlier this month, Brazil was one of the countries that pledged at the UN climate summit COP26 in Glasgow in early November to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.
2019
September 09
Deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon has almost doubled. In the first eight months of 2019, some 6,404 square kilometers of forest were logged in the region, a 91.9 percent increase over the same period in 2018 (3,367 square kilometers). On September 8, the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, INPE, reported this concerning data obtained by the Deter satellite system. In August 2019 alone, according to this information, about 1,700 square kilometers of Amazonian forests were destroyed, more than three times more than in the same month of the previous year (526 square kilometers). Experts estimate that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon for all of 2019 will reach 10,000 square kilometers. More accurate data on deforestation in the Amazon are expected in November when INPE will process satellite data from mid-2018 to mid-2019 and provide annual figures.
1996
January 01
In 1996, Asian companies invested more than $500 million in Brazil's forest industry, largely because they knew the speed at which forests in Asia were being cut down.