Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon skyrockets to 12-year high under Jair Bolsonaro’s push to increase farming and mining to combat poverty

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has surged to a 12-year high, with the destruction soaring since President Jair Bolsonaro took office and weakened environmental protections.

In 2020, destruction of the world’s largest rainforest rose 9.5 per cent from a year earlier to 11,088 square kilometres, according to data from Brazil’s national space research agency Inpe.

That means Brazil will miss its own target, established under a 2009 climate change law, for reducing deforestation to roughly 3,900 square…