Last month, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil lost trees at the fastest rate in 10 years. And experts blame activity by illegal loggers, who are helped by the easing of environmental protections under President Jair Bolsonaro.
The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest covering parts of eight South American countries. Nearly two-thirds of the forest lies in Brazil.
The Brazilian space research institute, INPE, said the DETER early-warning satellite system registered deforestation of 739 square kilometers of the forest in May. It happened at the start of a three-month logging season following the area's rainy season.
The numbers are up by about 200 square kilometers from last May. And more than two times the deforestation found two years earlier.
If this upward trend continues, we could have a bad year for the Amazon forest, Claudio Almeida warned on Tuesday. He heads the INPE's satellite monitoring program. Almeida added, It will depend on how much policing there is in the next two critical months.
Environmentalists said Bolsonaro's five-month-old government has taken apart agencies that support conservation, or protecting the environment. The country's environmental protection agency lost authority when Bolsonaro took office in January. The forestry commission was moved to the Agriculture Ministry, which is run by farm industry supporters.
Marcio Astrini works for the environmental group Greenpeace in Brazil. He called the new government "anti-environmental." He said it has pushed to lower forest protections without a plan to fight deforestation.
With Bolsonaro, people who destroy forests feel safe and those who protect forests feel threatened, Astrini said.
Bolsonaro's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles told Reuters that Brazil remains as committed as ever to protecting the forests.
Salles disputed the numbers from DETER satellite system as misleading. But he denied a newspaper report this week that it could be replaced by one run by a private company. He said, We are not going to remove anything. We are going to add more.
Salles said the government will hire a company that can do high resolution images in real time, or as they take place. He said that will help enforcement operations be more effective.
Officials will watch to see if the early numbers from DETER is confirmed later this year by a more accurate satellite program called PRODES.
PRODES imaging for the 12 months through July 2018 showed that 7,900 square kilometers of forest were cleared in Brazil's Amazon.
Still, deforestation remains well below levels in the early 2000s, before Brazil launched a campaign to fight logging. In 2004, for example, more than 27,000 square kilometers were cleared, an area the size of the nation Haiti.
I'm Anne Ball.
1. be replaced by 被……取代
Her position in my heart was replaced by him.
2. for example 比如，例如
For example, I have problems with proofreading.
亚马逊是世界最大的雨林，覆盖着8个南美洲国家的部分地区 。近2/3的丛林都位于巴西 。
巴西国家空间研究所（INPE）表示，雨林盗伐实时检测系统（DETER）的记录显示，5月份，有739平方公里的树林遭到砍伐 。而此时发生之时正值为期3个月的砍伐季开始之际，毕竟该地区的雨季刚过 。
如果这种上升趋势继续的话，今年对于亚马逊森林来说会非常不好过，克劳迪奥周二发出警示称 。克劳迪奥是INPE的负责人 。他补充表示，亚马逊今年境况如何将取决于有多少警力部署在这里，未来的两个月尤为关键 。
一些环境学家表示，博索纳罗执政5个月了 。他的政府解散了一些支持环保的机构 。巴西的环保机构自从博索纳罗执政以来就失去了实权 。林业委员会跟农业部合并了，由农业支持者来运作 。
马尔西奥是巴西环保组织——绿色和平组织的工作人员 。他认为，博索纳罗的新政府是反对保护环境的 。他表示，博索纳罗一直在推动的是减少对森林的保护，却从未制定过有关打击乱砍乱伐的计划 。
里卡多不认可DETER提供的数据，认为该数据具有误导性 。不过，他否认了本周的一项新闻报道，该报道称，DETER会被一家私企运作的系统所取代 。里卡多表示，我们不会替换掉当前的体系，只会增加新的体系 。
里卡多表示，博索纳罗政府会聘请一家公司，这家公司可以做实时的高清图像，或者提供实时的真实图像 。里卡多还表示，这样能帮助执行操作提高效率 。
不过，21世纪初，森林砍伐依然很低 。那时候，巴西还没有发起打击砍伐的行动 。比如，2004年，有2.7万多平方公里的森林遭到了毁坏 。其面积有海地国家那么大 。
Anne Ball为您播报 。