Brazil’s Amazon deforestation reaches a new high in April.

According to preliminary government data, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon increased to record levels in April, nearly tripling the area of forest destroyed in that month last year – the previous April record – frightening environmental advocates.

According to data released on Friday by the national space research organization Inpe, deforestation in the region totaled 1,012.5 square kilometers (390 square miles) in the first 29 days of April. The organization will release data for the final day of April next week, having collated the monthly data series from 2015/2016.

April is the third monthly high of the year, following new highs in January and February.

The destruction of the Brazilian Amazon in the first four months of this year set a new record of 1,954 square kilometers (754 square miles), up 69 percent from the same period in 2021, clearing an area larger than New York City.

Since right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro entered office in 2019, deforestation in the Amazon has increased dramatically, compromising environmental protection. More farming and mining in the Amazon, according to Bolsonaro, will relieve poverty in the region.

In a statement, Marcio Astrini, the leader of the Brazilian advocacy group Climate Observatory, said, “The cause of this record has a first and last name: Jair Messias Bolsonaro.” Bolsonaro’s office sent queries to the environment and justice ministries.

In a joint statement, the ministries claimed the government was putting in significant effort to combat environmental crimes, and that police and environmental agencies were working together on a deforestation operation in five Amazon states.

Despite the fact that deforestation is already on the rise, Climate Observatory experts were taken aback by the high number in April, when the muddy forest is more difficult for loggers to access.

Because of the massive amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide it absorbs, the Amazon is critical to preventing catastrophic climate change.

Deforestation was projected to continue escalating ahead of the October presidential election, according to Ane Alencar, science director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.