The researchers observed a 64% increase over the same period last year, when 573.29 square kilometers (221 square miles) were cleared. The president’s office and the environment ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A report by the UN Climate Group on Monday warned that governments were not doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the worst effects of global warming. While the use of fossil fuels is mainly responsible, deforestation is responsible for about 10% of world emissions, according to the report. “Brazil is an example of what the UN climate report says when it says governments are not taking the necessary action,” said Cristiane Mazzetti, a forest activist in Brazil for the environmental group Greenpeace. “We have a government that deliberately opposes the measures needed to curb climate change.” Some scientists predict that deforestation will continue to grow in the run-up to Brazil’s October presidential election, as it did before the last three elections. Environmental enforcement usually weakens during election years, and criminals can rush to deforestation before a new government takes office, according to Carlos Souza Jr., a researcher at Imazon, a Brazilian research institute. On Thursday, Facebook parent company Meta announced that it had removed 14 Facebook accounts, nine Facebook pages and 39 Instagram accounts for posting fake deforestation information. “This network started in Brazil and targeted the domestic public in that country,” Meta said in its first quarterly “Rival Threat Report.” Meta’s report says it has found “links to individuals linked to the Brazilian army” behind the accounts. CNN contacted the Brazilian Ministry of Defense for comment.
