Amazon deforestation soars amid pandemic lockdowns

Environmentalists in Brazil are denouncing an acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest that they say is directly linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Environmentalists in Brazil are warning that criminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to clear large parts of the Amazon rainforest.

Despite a heightened military presence, satellite images suggest the amount of forest lost is already higher than that during the whole of 2019, one of the worst years on record.

 

Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti reports from Bogota, Colombia.