ITATIBA, Brazil—Brazil is stepping up its efforts to halt the illegal deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said last week that the government has formed a special enforcement unit to address the issue.
Dubbed the National Environmental Security Force, the unit is operated jointly by the armed forces, the federal police, the National Public Security Force, and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), a division of the Environment Ministry.
According to the ministry, although September saw a 46 percent decline in deforestation compared to August, there was a surge of 140 percent in deforestation in August compared to the previous month
Some of the deforestation is because of drought due to warming temperatures; however, increased mining and illegal logging and land grabbing are also major factors.
The IBAMA pursued 226 illegally grabbed properties between August and September, seizing 75,120 acres of land, an area equivalent to close to 58,000 football fields, while issuing 216.3 million reals ($106.3 million) in fines. The institute also seized 10,600 logs and 4,400 cubic meters of processed wood.
“The environmental crime is becoming more sophisticated,” Teixeira said according to a news release put out by the ministry.
“To fight it, we are modernizing our system of control,” she added, referring to the creation of the joint force that will take advantage of the strengths offered by the different departments.
New Criteria to Address Deforestation
The ministry announced that it is also changing its process of adding Amazon areas in danger of excessive deforestation to a prioritized watch list, making the timeline shorter before the area is chosen for closer monitoring.
Previously, an area would be added to the watch list if deforestation rates went up in three of the last five years. With the latest change, an area will be added to the list if deforestation increases for at least two of the last three years.
“[The list] will include municipalities with more prevalent deforestation,” Juliana Simões, project manager for the Department of Policies to Combat Deforestation (CPPD) of the Ministry of the Environment, said in a statement.
