Deforestation

Over the last months, the Amazon deforestation rate was an area of Manhattan every day, following reports that farmers were clearing land for crop fields and cattle ranches, as the new Brazilian government was opening up the region to economic activity. According to the country’s National Institute for Space Research, Brazil (the world’s largest beef exporter) had over 72,000 fire outbreaks this year, with more than half of them located in the Amazon. This number represents an 84-percent increase compared to last year.