Deforestation in the Mercosur region has been a source of friction in the negotiations of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, and one of the main reasons for stopping the ratification process during Bolsonaro’s mandate.
Despite some improvement on environmental protections since Lula’s come back, the conditions to conclude a sustainable trade deal with Mercosur are still not met. Friends of the Earth Europe and Reporter Brasil publish a new factsheet covering the most recent data on forest fires and human rights abuses in Brazil.
Among the main findings :
- From January to September 2024, the number of forest fires surged to its highest level since 2010. The area burned in Brazil between January and August 2024 was 116% larger than recorded in 2023, reaching 11 million hectares.
- Almost all fires in the Amazon are human-caused. The increase in forest fires is also being exacerbated by a historic drought, the worst since records began in 1950.
- If deforestation levels decreased in the aftermath of Jair Bolsonaro’s exit, in July 2024 the deforestation level has increased again.
- In 2023, at least 208 Indigenous peoples were murdered in Brazil, a 15.5% increase from 2022.
This factsheet is the fifth in a series covering the most recent data and research on the situation of agribusiness and the environment in Mercosur. Read the first one here, the second here, the third one here, and the fourth one here.
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Stop the EU-Mercosur trade deal
The EU is close to finalising a climate-wrecking trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – known collectively as Mercosur. But there’s still time to stop it.
