The Amazon forest is heavily destroyed near newly opened routes

The map of “deforestation hotspots” emerges after highways in the Brazilian Amazon region, with color palettes descending four levels from red to yellow corresponding to primary forest loss: enhanced, new, often and occasionally – Photo: FT

According to the newspaper Financial Times, deforestation around roads has caused the number of trees to be cleared in the western Amazon region to skyrocket. The situation is so alarming that the rate of non-fire-related deforestation in some areas has increased by more than 25%, the researchers show.

“Deforestation occurring around roads is not a new phenomenon,” said Mikaela Weisse, deputy director of the Global Forest Monitoring program at the World Resources Institute in the US. speak. “What’s new this year, or the problem has grown, is the pace of deforestation,” she continued.

The western region of Brazil is hardest hit by this situation. New hotspots have emerged in accessible woodland around roads that may have been cleared for grazing.

According to the research team, in the Amazon, a number of new roads have been opened, making it easier to go deeper and cut down forests. “The interesting question is are roads causing deforestation or is deforestation driving the roads?”

Last year Brazil accounted for more than 40% of the total area of ​​tropical rainforest lost globally, about the same as the previous year. The country has lost 1.5 million hectares of forest, about the size of the Bahamas, according to data compiled by the University of Maryland.

Ending deforestation would be a critical step towards reducing carbon emissions. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO), stopping global deforestation could prevent about 3.6 gigatons (1 gigaton = 1 billion tons) of CO2 emissions.₂ discharged into the environment from now to 2050.