"SAO PAULO - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest rose 14% in March from the previous year, preliminary official data showed on Friday, highlighting the continued challenges for the new leftist government.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on Jan. 1, pledging to end deforestation after years of surging deforestation under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who slashed environmental protection efforts in the Amazon.
"This rise in numbers reveals that the Amazon still suffers from a huge lack of governance and that the new government needs to act urgently to rebuild its capacity for repression to environmental crime, which had been totally destroyed by the last government," said Marcio Astrini, head of local environmental group Climate Observatory."
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