Record area of Amazon gets cleared in 2022 1st half

Brasília: Brazil's space agency Inpe reported that the deforestation in the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, has reached a new record in the first half of 2022 as it lost an area five times the size of New York City. The damage sustained by the forest, which plays an important role in maintaining Earth's oxygen and carbon dioxide cycles, is irreparable and is deepening concerns, NDTV reported.

The Satellite data suggested that 3,988 square km got cleared in the first six months of January to June, which is an increase of 10.6% from the same months in 2021. The data is the highest since the agency started recording its current DETER-B data series in 2015.

It was 3,088 square kilometres during the mentioned period last year.

The Amazon, also known as the 'carbon sink', is a large reservoir of carbon. When the forests are destroyed, the stored gets released into the atmosphere, which leads to an increase in atmospheric temperature and serious climatic changes.

During the recently passed decades, a large extent of the forest was cleared for cattle ranches and farming. Studies have suggested that in the last five decades, 17 per cent of Amazon got cleared.

Environmentalists come down on Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro for doing nothing on the large-scale depletion of the forests. They allege that Bolsonaro withdrew environmental protections backing loggers, ranchers and land speculators in clearing public land for profit.

The Amazonas state has recorded most of the destruction detected in the first six months of 2022.