A new study in the Brazilian Amazon confirms a 54% increase in deforestation over the past ten months compared to the previous period.
The last fifty years have resulted in an unprecedented level of deforestation in human history, destroying 15% of the world’s vegetation—an area equivalent to the size of Spain, Portugal, and France combined. Now, a new study warns of the loss of 4,567 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest in the past ten months, a 54% increase from the previous period.
This past May recorded the second-highest deforestation rate of the last decade, with the Amazon losing 649 square kilometers of native forest, according to the Deforestation Alert System of the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon).
The main cause of this continuous increase in forest exploitation lies in the rising consumption of meat and the consequent expansion of extensive cattle ranching, as well as soybean cultivation and the creation of pastures for livestock. Brazil alone, home to the majority of the Amazon rainforest, has relocated more than 60 million animals to this region, fueling the international debate over who should have a say in the fate of the planet’s largest “lung.”
In this context, our diet plays a crucial role in what is happening in the Amazon. The expansion of cattle farming and soybean cultivation is driven by the global demand for meat and animal feed required by the industry to sustain livestock production.
