Deforestation in the Amazon wiped out 8% of the world's largest rainforest between 2000 to 2018, a new study by Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network (RAISG) has found.
RAISG updated its Amazon atlas, noting that 513,016sq km of the rainforest has been lost. Deforestation has surged since 2012 and in 2018, 31,279 sq km of forest was destroyed, the study added.
Mining, farming, ranching among other activities have fuelled this destruction. The study found that Brazil is also responsible for the worst deforestation. To fight the threat, there is a need to build an alliance of Amazon countries, researchers concluded.