Records indicate that February 2024 was the eleventh consecutive month in which the area of deforestation decreased. | Photo: EFE

Brasilia, March 19 (RHC)-- Brazil's Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) released a report Monday showing a decrease in the rate of deforestation in that nation's Amazon rainforest, the lowest in six years, in the period of the first two months of 2024.

"The first two months of 2024 ended with the lowest forest clearing in the last six years, since 2018," Imazon noted.

According to the report, this is the lowest rate of deforestation in a first two-month period since six years ago, when only 196 square kilometers (km) of forest were lost, representing a decrease of 63 percent, compared to the same period last year, when a loss of 523 square km was recorded.

For its part, Imazon's Deforestation Alert System (SAD), indicated that the month of February resulted in the eleventh consecutive month in which a decrease in the area felled was recorded, for an equivalent of 327 soccer fields per day, in the first two months of the current year.

Likewise, the publication reported that the states that lost the most forest areas in the period were Mato Grosso, Roraima and Amazonas, for 77 percent of total loss and the sum of deforestation in these states is equivalent to 152 square kilometers.

Imazon researcher Larissa Amorim, requested the Government to increase actions for the circumscription of indigenous lands and the establishment of Reserves, since "these are the territories that have historically shown the least deforestation in the Amazon".

Similarly, Imazon stressed that in the state of Roraima, deforestation has advanced in indigenous territories of the Yanomami communities, which are facing a health crisis due to illegal mining activities.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva got involved in the fight against the loss of Amazon forests, worsened during the government of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).