Deforestation in Brazil Amazon rainforest soars 67 percent

May begins the dry season in the Amazon rainforest, making it easier for loggers and other industries to cut down trees.

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose for a third consecutive month in May, preliminary government data showed on Friday, with President Jair Bolsonaro yet to follow through on his April pledge to boost funding for environmental enforcement. Deforestation soared 67 percent in May from the same month last year, according to Brazil’s national space research institute INPE, with much of the land targeted for cattle ranches, farms and logging. For the first five months of the year, the data show deforestation was up 25 percent compared with a year earlier, with 2,548 square kilometres (949 square miles) destroyed – an area more than three times the size of New York City.