According to data shared by the Brazilian government, the deforestation of Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world, elevated for the 14th consecutive month.
In the Brazilian Amazon, the deforestation is 83 percent ahead of where it was a year ago.
The data collected by the national space research institute of Brazil notes that 830 square km of rainforest was removed in the ‘legal Amazon’ during May.
This has brought the clearing since the 1st of August to 6437 sq km, an area that’s larger than Palestine or Delaware.
Brazil tracks the deforestation based on a year from August 1 to July 31.
Amazon Deforestation Is Rising for 14 Months in a Row
Since the 1st of January, the deforestation there has reached 2,033 sq km. In the first 5 months of 2019, this was 1,454 sq km. This is a 40 percent increase.
And, another analysis by Imazon, a Brazilian NGO, shows roughly the same reports as the official ones by the government.
The deforestation is increasing in other Amazon countries too, claims data from UMD and WRI.
Scientists are worried about the deforestation rise in combination with the climate change because it may trigger the rainforest to become a drier ecosystem.
A Drier Ecosystem Comes with Bad Outcomes for Everyone
This drier ecosystem will become prone to fire, it will produce less rainfall, and clean less carbon from the atmosphere, and it also becomes less hospitable to species that are adapted to the humid and dense forests of Amazonia.
The influence on the local and regional economies which are intertwined with the precipitation from the Amazon may be disastrous.
They may lead to agricultural deprivation and deprivation of the hydroelectric dams and reduce the water access in cities throughout South America.
Sadly, there are already signs of drying trends in the Amazon.