Deforestation in Brazil 94% illegal, says report

RIO DE JANEIRO • The vast majority of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is illegal, and President Jair Bolsonaro's promise to eliminate it looks doubtful given a lack of transparency on authorised land use, researchers have said.

Under pressure to curb the destruction of the Amazon, Mr Bolsonaro vowed last month at a world climate summit to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030.

But almost no deforestation can be considered fully legal in Brazil, given that the authorities are failing to adequately implement laws on tracking how much and where land is being cleared under permit, said the report, published on Monday by a group of university researchers and experts from environmental organisations, including the World Wildlife Fund Brazil and the Centro da Vida Institute.

The report found that 94 per cent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and surrounding Matopiba region is illegal. That is partly because even in cases where farmers, loggers and others have permits to clear land, the authorities are unable to document how those are being used, it said.

"The differentiation between legal and illegal deforestation is a key factor to ensure that Brazil's agricultural and forestry production is not contaminated by environmental crimes," it said.

Mr Bolsonaro has presided over a surge in deforestation in the world's biggest rainforest since taking office in 2019. In the 12 months to August last year, deforestation increased 9.5 per cent, destroying an area bigger than Jamaica, according to government data.

The President faces international pressure to clean up his government's environmental image and backlash from businesses worried about how that image will impact the country.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE