“The April number is very scary.
Deter data previously showed 430 square kilometers of deforestation this January, more than quadruple the level in the same month last year.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and an enormous carbon sink.
Amazonas state led deforestation in April, overtaking the states of both Para and Mato Grosso for only the second time on record.
“Amazonas is still a very preserved state.
Amazonas’ destruction has been concentrated in the southern part of the state, where President Jair Bolsonaro has promised to pave a 400-kilometer dirt stretch of the BR-319 highway that connects the cities of Manaus and Porto Velho.
A study released last week by the BR-319 Observatory, a network of environmental non-profits, revealed a nearly 3,000 -kilometer network of secondary roads in reach of the highway.
Historically, the opening and paving of highways has been the main driver of Amazon deforestation.
“We need a regional development model that is compatible with environmental protection.