Sources: Brazil withheld deforestation data 'til COP26's end

Senior officials say Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Joaquim Leite both knew the Amazon region’s annual deforestation rate had surged before the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and Environment Minister Joaquim Leite both knew the Amazon region's annual deforestation rate had surged before the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, but kept results quiet to avoid hampering negotiations, according to three Cabinet ministers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Data from the National Institute for Space Research's Prodes monitoring system released Thursday showed the Amazon lost 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of rainforest in the 12-month reference period from August 2020 to July 2021. That’s up 22% from the prior 12-month period and the worst in 15 years.

The three ministers as well as a coordinator at the space institute that compiles the data, all of whom spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity due to concern about reprisals, said the annual deforestation report was available on the government’s information system before talks in Glasgow began on Oct 31.

Six days before that, at a meeting in the presidential palace, Bolsonaro and several ministers discussed the 2020-2021 deforestation results and determined they wouldn’t be released until after the climate conference, said the three ministers, two of whom were present.