Brazil deforestation climbs 67% through July as government attacks data

FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles speaks during a news conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Deforestation in Brazil's rainforest has jumped around 67% in the first seven months of the year, according to preliminary data from Brazil's space research agency, which the government has attacked as misleading and harmful to the national interest.

The monitoring system registered destruction of 2,255 square kilometres (557,223 acres) of Amazon forest in July, more than triple the 597 square kilometres spotted in July 2018, according to National Institute for Space Research (INPE). That is nearly the land mass of Luxembourg and the most monthly deforestation registered by INPE in years.