Climate Adaptation
Amazon Rainforest Is Being Destroyed at Fastest Pace in 15 Years
- Area the size of Connecticut lost to deforestation this year
- Bolsonaro government promises to end illegal deforestation
Aerial view showing a deforested area of rainforest in Labrea, Brazil, on Sept. 15.
Photographer: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images
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Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon accelerated this year to levels unseen since 2006, despite promises by the Jair Bolsonaro administration to end illegal deforestation.
More than 13,000 square kilometers (5,019 square miles) of forest, or an area nearly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut, was lost between August 2020 and July 2021, according to a preliminary estimate by the National Institute of Spacial Research, or Inpe, which oversees the area using satellites.