<p class="title">Brazil on Thursday released revised statistics showing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest surpassed 10,000 square kilometres in the year to July 2019, the highest in more than a decade.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said last week that satellite data showed 9,762 square kilometres were cleared of trees in the 12-month period, an increase of 29.5 percent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This week's revised statistics released by the INPE show the increase was even greater than thought: a 43 percent jump in deforestation in the world's largest rainforest, for a total loss of 10,100 square kilometres in the 12 months to July. That's against a loss of 7,033 square kilometres between August 2017 and July 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The deforestation is the largest since 2008, when 12,287 square kilometres of the Amazon were logged in a 12-month period.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Previous data showed clearing in the Amazon nearly doubled in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period in 2018, to 6,404 square kilometres.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The data's announcement came after fires ravaged swaths of the rainforest earlier this year, igniting a global outcry and diplomatic feud between President Jair Bolsonaro and European leaders.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Far-right Bolsonaro is a proponent of developing agricultural and mining activities in the Amazon, 60 percent of which lies in Brazil's borders.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Faced with criticism over the fires and tree clearing, Bolsonaro accused non-government organisations of starting the blazes, and France and others of threatening Brazil's sovereignty over the rainforest. (AFP) HMB</p>
<p class="title">Brazil on Thursday released revised statistics showing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest surpassed 10,000 square kilometres in the year to July 2019, the highest in more than a decade.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said last week that satellite data showed 9,762 square kilometres were cleared of trees in the 12-month period, an increase of 29.5 percent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This week's revised statistics released by the INPE show the increase was even greater than thought: a 43 percent jump in deforestation in the world's largest rainforest, for a total loss of 10,100 square kilometres in the 12 months to July. That's against a loss of 7,033 square kilometres between August 2017 and July 2018.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The deforestation is the largest since 2008, when 12,287 square kilometres of the Amazon were logged in a 12-month period.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Previous data showed clearing in the Amazon nearly doubled in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period in 2018, to 6,404 square kilometres.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The data's announcement came after fires ravaged swaths of the rainforest earlier this year, igniting a global outcry and diplomatic feud between President Jair Bolsonaro and European leaders.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Far-right Bolsonaro is a proponent of developing agricultural and mining activities in the Amazon, 60 percent of which lies in Brazil's borders.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Faced with criticism over the fires and tree clearing, Bolsonaro accused non-government organisations of starting the blazes, and France and others of threatening Brazil's sovereignty over the rainforest. (AFP) HMB</p>