The Amazon rainforest is being burned Leo Correa/AP/Shutterstock

Deforestation of the Amazon has continued at record levels this year, leading observers to warn that the rainforest is disappearing faster than ever before.

Under Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who has encouraged deforesting parts of the Amazon for development, the area of rainforest cleared last year jumped by 29.5 per cent to its highest level in a decade.

With official data from Brazil’s space agency INPE now in for the whole of January and February 2020, it is clear there has been no let-up for the Amazon. A 470-square-kilometre area – …