Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is on the rise sharply, sparking alarm over the future of the world’s biggest rainforest.
Between June and last August, Imazon, the first independent monitoring system for the area, detected a 100 percent surge in the clearing of land.
That’s in stark contrast to last year, when deforestation fell to 4,751 square kilometers (1,834 square miles), its lowest level in decades.
The government insists a full picture will only emerge at the end of the year, once more reliable satellite images are factored in.
Provisional government data until May had pointed to a 30 percent increase.
The surge in deforestation coincides with major infrastructure projects and a new forestry law.
The law, which curbs the use of land for farming and mandates that up to 80 percent of privately-owned acreage in the Amazon remain intact, took effect last October.
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