Amazon rainforest hit by surge in small-scale deforestation, study finds

A study out this week finds small-scale deforestation in the Amazon rainforest have been increasing over the past decade, with new hotspots emerging in Bolivia and Peru. The news somewhat dampens Brazil’s touted successes at combatting deforestation, with researchers saying the country’s forest monitoring system is not capable of detecting small forest loss events. Over the past decade, numbers from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) have have shown big drops in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. After a spike of around 27,000 square kilometers of forest lost in 2004, INPE data indicate deforestation declined precipitously to less than 5,000 square kilometers in 2012. Since then, the data show deforestation in the region has remained relatively low compared to years past, with experts attributing the decline largely to the strengthening of environmental regulations in the mid-2000s. However, Brazil’s drop in deforestation may not be as big as those numbers suggest. INPE uses a satellite monitoring system called PRODES to look for tree cover loss in the Amazon, a system that has been lauded by conservationists as a big driver of deforestation decline in the Brazilian Amazon. But PRODES can only detect canopy gaps larger than 6.25 hectares, meaning that deforestation events smaller than that may be missed. The Amazon rainforest is home to a huge variety of plants and animals, like this margay (Leopardus wiedii). To get a more comprehensive look at deforestation trends in the Amazon rainforest, a team of scientists from the UK and Brazil used another satellite…

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