Brazil is the country with the second largest forest cover on Earth, more than 5 million km2. Two thirds of the country’s forest cover is concentrated in the Amazon, which still contains approximately 80% of the original forest. The country has an enormous forest area, but deforestation rates in the 1990s were worrying. Brazil was losing almost 1% of its forest area annually. In 1995, the first year for which we have data that allow calculation of deforestation in all biomes, the area deforested reached 54,000 km2, an area bigger than Costa Rica. In the Amazon, deforestation that year reached an all-time high since measurements began; slightly more than 29,000 km2.

Year: 2015

From collection: State of the Rainforest

Cartographer: GRID-Arendal