Forest fires devastated 16.3 million hectares last year in Brazil, an area 14% larger than that destroyed in 2021, it was announced today.
The Amazon was once again the most affected region, according to a study released today by the Mapbiomas initiative.
The largest rainforest on the planet lost 7.9 million hectares, as almost half of the fires recorded last year in Brazil (49%) occurred in the biome.
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The study notes that most fires in the biome occurred in the months of August, September and October, but it was in December that the flames increased 50% more than in 2021.
Of the 27 Brazilian states, the one that burned the most between January and December 2022 was Mato Grosso, followed by Pará and Tocantins, all in the Amazon region.
According to the study, the second biome that lost the most vegetation to flames last year was the Cerrado (Brazilian savanna), with 7.4 million hectares (45% of the total).
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However, with an area almost half that of the Amazon, experts say it was the most affected in 2022.
The good news came from the Atlantic Forest and the Pantanal, which had the smallest burned areas in the last four years, with a reduction of 85%, compared to 2021, in the case of the Pantanal.
*With Lusa
