Deforestation in the Amazon in Brazil has reached a new record during the first half of the year. According to the Brazilian Space Agency, nearly 4,000 square kilometers have been deforested this year — that’s an area five times the size of New York City. Deforestation has surged under the right-wing presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. This is Manoela Machado, a wildfire and deforestation researcher at Oxford University.

Manoela Machado: “This is very bad. The first semester in the Amazon is when we have the rainy season, so we shouldn’t be seeing these high numbers. This historically is not — the peak of deforestation shouldn’t be happening while it’s raining. So, we have a combination of a drier climate with more motivation to deforest. So this is extremely bad news.”

Scientists say preserving the Amazon is crucial in addressing the climate crisis.