BRASILIA (Dispatches) - Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose for a third consecutive month in May, preliminary government data showed on Friday, with PresidentJair Bolsonaro yet to follow through on his April pledge to boost funding for environmental enforcement.
Deforestation soared 67% in May from the same month last year, according to Brazil’s national space research institute Inpe, with much of the land targeted for cattle ranches, farms and logging.
For the first five months of the year, the data show deforestation was up 25% compared with a year earlier, with 2,548 square km destroyed - an area more than three times the size of New York City.
Deforestation peaks during the dry season from May to October, when it is easier for illegal loggers to access the forest.
Bolsonaro pledged at an Earth Day summit in April to double funding for environmental enforcement. The next day, he signed the 2021 federal budget that slashed environmental spending.
Environment Minister Ricardo Salles immediately submitted a proposal for the Economy Ministry to increase environmental spending, but that request has gone unanswered for more than a month.