The number of trees cleared in the tropical forests of Brazil and Colombia dropped drastically last year due to government policy as revealed by a study released this April.
According to the World Resource Institute, the world experienced a loss of 3.7 million hectares of forest in 2023 – equivalent to 10 football fields per minute. This loss would have been much greater if it was not for the results achieved by Brazil and Colombia. Researchers state that the Presidents of both countries, Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, have prioritized the environment, with the number of trees lost falling by 36% in Brazil and 49% in Colombian territory compared to 2022.
These figures are positive and have helped to minimize the sharp increases recorded in Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Laos, mainly due to forest fires and the expansion of agricultural land. However, despite helping to reduce the global deforestation rate, both countries have concerning issues to address regarding the protection of their biomes.
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon down by 54%
This year, Brazil has been successful in containing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest biome which is located in the northern part of the country. The latest data released by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) last week shows a 54.4% reduction in deforestation compared to March of last year. According to the research, 162 km² of forest were under deforestation alert in the Amazon in March of this year, whereas in 2023, 356 km² of deforestation was recorded.
See also: Is it too late to rescue the Amazon despite falling deforestation rates?
Comparing the first quarters, deforestation alerts amounted to 845 km² in the initial three months of 2023, dropping to 507 km² this year – a decrease of 40%. The figures for this year’s first quarter are the lowest since 2017.
“This is mainly due to increased monitoring. Deforestation was alarmingly high, at an uncontrolled level. Therefore, the state’s presence in this monitoring role led to this decline. Now, a second phase will begin, where the government needs to implement policies to promote activities that do not lead to deforestation. It’s essential to balance monitoring with less impactful deforestation measures,” explains Cláudio Almeida, coordinator of the monitoring program at INPE.
Another positive sign from Brazil is that indigenous lands are experiencing the lowest level of deforestation since 2018, according to the Institute of Man and the Environment in the Amazon. During the deforestation calendar, which runs from August to March, indigenous lands in the Amazon saw a 42% reduction in forest clearance in the last period analyzed. From August 2023 to March 2024, 73 km² of indigenous lands in the Amazon were deforested. In the previous period, this number was 125 km².
Brazil likely to OK oil drilling in Amazon
Experts and environmentalists have recently expressed concern regarding the intentions of the country’s state-run oil company, Petrobras, which is seeking to explore for oil in the mouth of the Amazon River on the north coast of the country where studies indicate the presence of 5.6 billion barrels of oil in the region.
The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources has already denied authorization for Petrobras to explore for oil in the region on the grounds that the proposed project did not provide the necessary guarantees of environmental safety. The state-owned company subsequently submitted a new request which is still under evaluation.
Although the mouth of the Amazon is of high environmental sensitivity, the Brazilian government continues to insist on oil exploration and has already indicated that this will proceed. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejected a proposal made by Columbian President Gustavo Petro for Amazonian countries to halt new projects of this type in the region.
According to experts, exploring for oil in the Amazon is a contradiction of immense proportions for a government that promises zero deforestation and commitment to the environment at international events it attends.
“You protect on one side, but open a huge door to immense environmental impacts in the biome,” evaluated Marcio Astrini, Executive Secretary of the Brazilian civil society initiative, Climate Observatory.
Brazilian Cerrado
While Brazil celebrates positive enforcement outcomes in the Amazon, concerns have arisen regarding another biome located in the central region of the country, the Cerrado. Spanning across 14 states and the Federal District, deforestation in this area surged by 23.8% in March of this year, rising from 423 km² in 2023 to 524 km² in 2024.
Furthermore, trimestral data reveals that the deforestation rate in the first quarter of this year is the highest since 2019 and, compared to 2023, there was a 4.1% increase.
The Brazilian government claims that the high deforestation rate in the Cerrado is related to the soil exploitation policy in the biome’s area. According to enforcement agencies, there are difficulties in monitoring deforestation authorizations although it is estimated that more than half of the deforestation in the biome has been authorized by regional environmental agencies.
“The legislation establishes a percentage of permissible deforestation and the states are implementing the law. What we need now is greater control over how these authorizations are being issued and to create mechanisms to discourage deforestation and encourage forest conservation,” says André Lima, National Secretary for Deforestation Control at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
The record numbers mean that the biome is experiencing the impact of stricter enforcement elsewhere in the Amazon. One of the alternatives to help to curb this is the recognition of the territories occupied by traditional people and communities, according to Isabel Figueiredo, coordinator of the Cerrado and Caatinga Program at the Society, Population, and Nature Institute.
Colombia: deforestation on the ups again
The Colombian Amazon, much like its Brazilian counterpart, saw the same downward trend in deforestation in 2023. Between January and September 2023, there was a 70% reduction compared to the same period in 2022, according to data from the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies.
In 2022, the country achieved a historic reduction in deforestation with 123,517 hectares of forest lost, a 29% drop compared to 2021. In the Amazon, deforestation fell by 36%, the lowest level since 2013.
However, 2024 presents worrying data with the first semester figures going against the positive results of last year. Deforestation in the country increased by 40% and reached a “historic peak,” according to the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad.
The rise in deforestation is attributed to a dry season that has been exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon and also, largely, to coercion by armed groups in rural areas, with the country facing an internal conflict that has lasted for over six decades. According to the Minister, the armed groups operating in the country “promote deforestation as a mechanism to exert pressure in peace agreement negotiations” with the government. Muhamad noted that this was a “violation of International Humanitarian Law.”
Bram Ebus, a researcher at the non-profit organization, International Crisis Group, confirmed the Minister’s stance. He noted that the opposition organization, Central High Command (EMC) was one of the main drivers behind this decline. He stated that the EMC’s efforts partly aim to facilitate negotiations with the government of Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s current President, who hopes to achieve “total peace” in the country, ending historical conflicts.
“We’ve seen that they [the EMC] started using deforestation restrictions as a political tool for ‘total peace’ negotiations.”
