![\"EMA00202BOL\"](\"http:\/\/www.revistahcsm.coc.fiocruz.br\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Amazon-300x170.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Eduardo Martino \/ Panos<\/p><\/div>\n
[RIO DE JANEIRO] Deforestation in Brazil\u2019s Amazon\u00a0rainforest\u00a0fell by 18 per cent this year, according to official government figures, but some experts are surprised by the news and fear the true trend remains upward.<\/p>\n
The estimated area of forest cleared in the 12 months to the end of July fell from 5,891 square kilometres in 2013 to 4,848 square kilometres in 2014, an area more than twice the size of London, United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
This is the second lowest amount of deforestation recorded since monitoring started in 1988, according to Brazil\u2019s government.\u00a0The data, released on 26 November, come from analysis of satellite images taken by the forest clearing detection service Prodes, run by the country\u2019s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).<\/p>\n
The lowest figure on record was for the period of 2011-2012, with 4,571 square kilometres of forest cleared. But the following year saw a 29 per cent increase to 5,891 square kilometres.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the authorities now say the underlying trend is downward, stating that this year, 83 per cent less forest was destroyed than in 2004.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last five years have seen the lowest deforestation rates ever recorded for the Amazon,\u201d said environment minister Izabella Teixeira.<\/p>\n
The recent slowdown of deforestation rates is due to several factors, said Teixeira, such as the work of law enforcement teams and a task force for the\u00a0environmental<\/a>\u00a0regularisation of rural properties.<\/p>\n But some experts believe the true picture is less promising. Marco Lentini, who heads the Amazon Programme run by conservation body WWF\u2019s Brazilian office, says he found the recent announcement surprising.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect those results since we\u2019ve analysed deforestation\u00a0data\u00a0from monthly monitoring system DETER [also from INPE] and other independent sources such as Imazon [the Amazonian Institute of Man and Environment] that have showed an upward trend,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we want to conserve\u00a0biodiversity, maintain critical areas in the Amazon with a minimum level of conservation and an acceptable level of greenhouse gases to keep global warming to less than two degrees Celsius in the next decade, we need to have lower deforestation rates and we\u2019re very far from that,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Philip Fearnside, a\u00a0biologist at the National Institute for Amazonian Research, Brazil, says that he expects deforestation rates to rise next year because of a significant number of new infrastructure initiatives planned for the Amazon, including hydroelectric projects and major roads.<\/p>\n For articles about the Amazon Forest, click here:<\/p>\n