Very pleased to see the annual #deforestation rates published yesterday by #PRODES. Here are some key points to clarify the significance of PRODES and its data produced by INPE, the official agency reporting on deforestation rates:

1. PRODES has been a cornerstone in monitoring the Amazon, using a consistent methodology since 1988 to map clear-cutting in primary #forests. This consistency allows for reliable year-over-year comparisons, which are crucial for understanding long-term trends.

2. PRODES calculates annual deforestation rates based on data from August to July. The most recent data, therefore, reflects deforestation from August 2023 to July 2024. It specifically maps complete clear-cutting in primary forests, requiring a minimum area of 6.25 hectares, and relies on #LANDSAT images.

3. It's essential to note that PRODES does not track #forestdegradation, such as #selectiveLogging, #fire, or edge effects. (1) Studies show that between 2003 and 2019, degradation and disturbances accounted for 44% of carbon losses in the Amazon, with 56% due to deforestation. (2) Recent reports suggest that the area affected by degradation in the Amazon is currently larger than the deforested area. From 2001 to 2018, the deforested area in the Amazon basin was 325,975 km², while the degraded area reached 364,748 km² in the same period. There are areas in the Amazon where deforestation has decreased, but degradation has not. This underscores that reducing deforestation alone won't address the ongoing degradation crisis in the #Amazon.

4. Additionally, PRODES does not account for deforestation in secondary forests. (3) Over the past 15 years, more than 60% of these regenerating areas have been cleared again, highlighting a significant challenge in conserving secondary forests.

5. This emphasizes the value of complementary #monitoring systems that address what PRODES doesn’t cover, such as degradation and deforestation in #secondaryforests.

Brazil is fortunate to have a diverse set of monitoring tools, from #government, #NGOs, and private sectors, which help to track deforestation, degradation, and other environmental crimes with more frequent data collection and higher spatial resolution.

Rerefences cited:
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-amazon-deforestation-lula-wildfires-4a8e25c3dee73ccd942677c192cf3e42 from Fabiano Maisonnave

(1): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/forests-and-global-change/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.645282/full
(2): https://oeco.org.br/reportagens/degradacao-na-amazonia-precisa-ser-combatida-tanto-quando-desmatamento-dizem-cientistas/
(3): https://g1.globo.com/meio-ambiente/noticia/2024/03/17/mais-de-60percent-das-areas-da-amazonia-em-regeneracao-voltaram-a-ser-desmatadas-apontam-dados-ineditos-do-inpe.ghtml

Excellent report with Erika Berenguer's participation on the document launched to improve policies to tackle #degradation.(https://lnkd.in/efwJRHxK).
As the report mentions, this year there is a 75% probability of #elnino occurring between July and August (data from the National Institute of Meteorology - Inmet), besides this the #deforestation rates are still very high with a lot of wood on the ground drying and ready to be burned, and as Erika mentions, fire is the final stage of deforestation and that can indeed escape into the #forest. 
In this document (https://lnkd.in/eVhu_bwm), researchers (including the scientists I most admire in this area of degradation - Ane Alencar, Ima Vieira and Erika Berenguer) show that the area affected by degradation is greater than the area of deforestation (greater #carbonemissions and loss of #biodiversity). 
Mapping degradation is a great challenge, because there are several causes, one of them is the disturbance of #selectivelogging and #fragmentation (edge effect). Thanks to programs such as DETER, it is still possible to identify areas of greater extent of degradation, but there is still much degradation that is difficult to quickly identify due to various challenges, including the #spatial and #temporal resolution of some sensors.
We need public policies to maintain and improve programs for mapping degradation in #tropicalforests, as the document mentions, there is still a big misunderstanding of people who believe that fighting deforestation will solve the degradation, which is not true, since deforestation (in the Amazon) was contained in several regions, but degradation is still happening in those places.

#amazon #climatechange