Deforestation last year slowed in all of Brazil’s nature biomes for the first time in six years, according to a report issued months before the country hosts a major UN climate conference at the end of this year.
The total area deforested in South America’s biggest country was 32.4 percent lower than in 2023, or about 1.24 million hectares, the report by monitoring agency MapBiomas said yesterday.
It was the second year in a row of lower deforestation, with 2023 also recording a decrease of 11 percent from the previous year.
Photo: Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to eradicate illegal deforestation by 2030 and wants to make Brazil a leader in combating global warming.
Yet despite the advances, Brazil still lost about 3,403 hectares of native vegetation daily last year.
Brazil is home to six biomes, each with its own climate, vegetation and animal life: the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado, the Caatinga, the Pantanal and the Pampa.
In the Amazon, the largest tropical rainforest on the planet, logging destroyed an average of 1,035 hectares daily, or “about seven trees per second,” the report said, mostly to clear land for agriculture.
The Cerrado, a tropical savanna rich in biodiversity, was the biome most affected by clearing for the second year in a row, losing 652,197 hectares.
Two-thirds of indigenous lands recorded no deforestation last year, the report said.
Deforestation is the intentional destruction of vegetation, and does not include forest fires, which reached record levels in Brazil last year.
COP30, the next round of UN climate talks, are due to take place in the Amazonian city of Belem in November.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS