“Of course, nobody expected [Pontes] to clash with the president,” says Mercedes Bustamante, an ecologist at the University of Brasília and co-founder of the Coalition for Science and Society, “but the tone of his statement was disappointing.”. Another system, the Amazon Deforestation Satellite Monitoring Project (PRODES), generates Brazil’s official yearly deforestation rates, calculated from a selection of high-resolution photos from different satellites. The most recent DETER data suggest more than 4200 square kilometers of forest were chopped out of the Brazilian Amazon between 1 January, when Bolsonaro took office, and 24 July. Pontes said he had requested a “full technical report” from INPE about the past 24 months of deforestation data and said his ministry had invited Galvão for “clarifications and guidance.” He has also said he agrees INPE should not make its data public as soon as they are ready. Also, 2020 had recorded damages that it is even worse than the 2012 fires when the satellite was first used. AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. INPE, a public research institute based in São José dos Campos, has been tracking deforestation in the Amazon through satellite images since the 1970s. Deforestation (INPE) Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE) calculates deforestation on an Aug 1-Jul 31 "year" so the annual figures presented in this table do not represent deforestation that occurred on a Jan-Dec basis. Many prominent scientists and environmentalists blame the increase in land clearing on Bolsonaro’s aggressive prodevelopment statements and policies, including the promotion of farming and mining on protected land. Some 7500 square kilometers of forest were felled nationwide in 2018.

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The window to the world of. Fishbone-like forest cuts create many edges, accelerating forest degradation. , the fires in Amazon have burned over 7,600 square kilometers marking its unprecedented destruction in the world's largest rainforest. Development is encroaching on the forest in the state of Para in Brazil. Bolsonaro—who said Galvão could meet with a Cabinet minister instead—has since toned down his criticism but insists INPE should consult with government officials before releasing deforestation data in the future because it is hurting Brazil’s image abroad. By October 2019, the fires in Amazon have burned over 7,600 square kilometers marking its unprecedented destruction in the world's largest rainforest. Bolsonaro called the numbers “a lie” during a 19 July breakfast talk with journalists, and suggested INPE Director Ricardo Galvão was “at the service of some [nongovernmental organization].” “With all the devastation you accuse us of doing and having done in the past, the Amazon would be extinguished already,” he said. Brazil’s space agency, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), has reported the lowest rate (km²/yr) of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since 1988 when the agency began its annual space-based assessments. Moreover, he said that climate change could also increase that risk driving high temperature and rainfall changes in the rainforest. He has transferred control over indigenous lands to the Ministry of Agriculture and promised to review the boundaries of national parks and other protected areas that he says are slowing down progress in Brazil. last month's fires on the Amazon rainforest had doubled the rate of 2019, experts urged the governments to invest in the prevention efforts, Brazilian Amazon Deforestation Increased to 25%, Official Data Showed, Experts Warn Next Pandemic Could Come Any Moment and Call for Immediate Prevention Efforts From Governments. Other scientists defend INPE’s numbers. His comments triggered a fierce backlash from the scientific community, which feels increasingly under siege from the Bolsonaro administration. About 9,762 square kilometers (3,769 square miles) of rainforest were lost for the 12 months through July 2019, according to the release from The National Institute for Space Research … "There is a great concern because ... there is a displacement of organisms. Although PRODES is more accurate than DETER, the two systems tend to agree with each other, so it’s likely that the next PRODES report, expected in December, will show a deforestation spike of similar magnitude, analysts say. This year is no better than last year, and experts at NASA's Global Fire Emissions Database project said that it had exceeded last year's record. But with the farmlands expanding into the Amazon rainforest, researchers said that it might open a new way for pandemic diseases to emerge, AlJazeera reports. Project PRODES [external link; in Portuguese]. The current surge of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest could be the exact phenomenon needed for spillover to happen giving birth to a new pandemic wherein viruses or bacteria could jump to different species, according to Cecilia Andreazzi, a researcher at the major public health institute in Brazil named Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. To declare INPE’s data a lie is akin to arguing that the Earth is flat. How to Fix iPhone Boot Loop and iPhone Black Screen? Annual deforestation rates declined by more than 80% between 2004, when DETER became operational, and 2012, but have been trending upward since then. More information: They try to adapt, face these new challenging scenarios by changing places," Val said. Deforestation is shooting up again in the Brazilian Amazon, according to satellite monitoring data. But perhaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the massive increase in the deforestation of the Amazon was given less international attention. The head of Brazil's National Space Research Institute says he will be sacked after a public row with President Jair Bolsonaro over the scale of deforestation in the Amazon. Herton Escobar is a science and environment journalist in São Paulo, Brazil. INPE got much less support from Brazil’s minister of science and technology, former NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer Marcos Pontes, whose department oversees the institute. But Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, whom many blame for the uptick, has disputed the trend and attacked the credibility of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which produced the data. “Those data have long been used as a reliable barometer of what’s happening in the Brazilian Amazon,” says Bill Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. Brazil uses Landsat data as a key input for their systematic monitoring of Amazonian deforestation, a project known as PRODES (Estimate of Amazon Gross Deforestation Project). Bolsonaro is a fierce critic of Brazil’s environmental regulations and law enforcement agencies, which he claims are biased against agriculture and economic development. The virus has to break through barriers to successfully infect another species different from its primary host. All rights Reserved. Half a century conquering the space to care for Earth The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) celebrates in 2011 its 50th anniversary, and has the mission to produce high quality of science and technology in the space and terrestrial environment areas, and to offer unique products and services for Brazilian benefit. “Scientific facts will prevail, whether or not people believe in them.” Galvão called Bolsonaro a “coward” for voicing unfounded accusations in public. Read Also: Brazilian Amazon Deforestation Increased to 25%, Official Data Showed. “To declare INPE’s data a lie is akin to arguing that the Earth is flat,” Laurance says.