Emissions in the last three years of the period (2019–21) accounted for 59%, reflecting intensification of the destruction.
The data comes from a research project led by Brazilians and published in an article in Scientific Reports. The authors show that deforestation in ITs totaled 1,708 square kilometers (km²), or 2.38% of total deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in the period. In an analysis of 232 ITs, they found that annual deforestation averaged 35 km², increasing 129% between 2013 and 2021. The increase was 195% in the last three years of the period.
Alarmingly, the article also shows that the distance of deforested areas from the borders of the ITs concerned increased significantly in the period, rising 30% from 6.80 km to 8.87 km on average.
"In absolute numbers, the areas deforested in these ITs may not seem so large, but ITs are supposed to be environmentally protected, so the impact is all the greater.
In addition to the destruction of nature, deforestation brings other problems in its wake, such as diseases and threats to the survival of isolated Indigenous communities.
A recent case involved the Yanomami, many of whom died owing to encroachment by wildcat miners [garimpeiros]," Celso H. L. Silva-Junior, first author of the article, told Agência FAPESP. He is a professor in the Program of Graduate Studies in Biodiversity and Conservation at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA).
Considered an efficient forest conservation model, ITs have come under growing pressure from illegal alluvial panning and mining operations.
The increase in deforestation, partly driven by setbacks such as the reversal of government policy on the rights of Indigenous communities, endangers the Amazon's crucial role as a store of carbon. Tropical forests are key ecosystems in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, acting as carbon sinks as long as they are left alone.
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