Amazon deforestation rises by 22% in a single year

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest soared 22% to the highest level since 2006, the government’s annual report has shown, undercutting president Jair Bolsonaro’s assurances that illegal logging is being curbed. Brazil’s space research agency, INPE, recorded 13,235 sq km of deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest in satellite data from August 2020 to July 2021. At the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Brazil’s government brought forward a pledge to end illegal deforestation by two years to 2028, a target that would require aggressive annual reductions in the destruction.