page_title: Environmental issues in Brazil
section_title: Deforestation
hierarchical_section_title: Environmental issues in Brazil / Deforestation
caption_attribution_description: Ibama e Polícia Federal combatem grupo criminoso responsável por extrair e comercializar ilegalmente madeira da Reserva Biológica do Gurupi e das Terras Indígenas Caru e Alto Turiaçu, no Maranhão. Foto: Felipe Werneck - Ascom/Ibama
context_page_description: Environmental issues in Brazil include deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, illegal poaching, air, land degradation, and water pollution caused by mining activities, wetland degradation, pesticide use and severe oil spills, among others. As the home to approximately 13% of all known species, Brazil has one of the most diverse collections of flora and fauna on the planet. Impacts from agriculture and industrialization in the country threaten this biodiversity.
context_section_description: Deforestation in Brazil is a major issue; the country once had the highest rate of deforestation in the world. By far the most deforestation comes from cattle ranchers that clear rainforest (sometimes illegally, sometimes legally), so as to make room for sowing grass and giving their cattle the ability to graze on this location. An important route taken by cattle ranchers and their cattle is the Trans-Amazonian Highway.
  Deforestation has been a significant source of pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, but deforestation has been Brazil's foremost cause of environmental and ecological degradation. Since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers of Amazonian rainforest have been destroyed and the level of deforestation in the protected zones of Brazil's Amazon rainforest increased by over 127 percent between 2000 and 2010. Recently, further destruction of the Amazon Rainforest has been promoted by an increased global demand for Brazilian wood, meat, and soybeans. Also, as of 2019, some environmental laws have been weakened and there has been a cut in funding and personnel at key government agencies and a firing of the heads of the agency’s state bodies.
caption: Deforestation in the Gurupi Biological Reserve, Maranhão state, 2016
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