The amount of land in the Amazon where deforestation has taken place has increased dramatically under the presidency of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro – amid concerns his environmental stance has emboldened those keen to turn one of the most important regions in the world for biodiversity into agricultural land.

Mr Bolsonaro has long denied responsibility for attempts to cut back the Amazon by illegal loggers and ranchers, who are believed to be at least in part to blame for the mass wildfires that swept the rainforest in the summer of 2019, which immolated 2.24 million acres of land once teeming with life.

However, data released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) that covers the entire length of his tenure in office has shown the organisation marked 9,166 square kilometres of rainforest with deforestation warnings across 2019, compared to 4,946 square kilometres in 2018.

While the warnings – logged through the agency’s DETER system – are not used as the official way of measuring deforestation in the country, they offer mounting evidence against Mr Bolsonaro alongside data released in November by the same agency which showed areas of complete deforestation had risen 30% from 2018 to 9,762 square km.

Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billlows from burning tracts of the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Land in the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil on August 23 AFP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures An area of the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 24 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Satellite images show a series of fires in the southwest Brazilian state of Rondonia on August 15 AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A satellite image released by NASA shows the active fires that have been detected in the Amazon region EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A view of logs felled illegally in the Amazon rainforest are seen in sawmills in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 22 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A scorched patch of land in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil on 20 August EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Several fires are seen burning in the Amazon rainforest in this satellite image taken by NASA on 11 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures The sunsets behind clouds and smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 18 August EPA

And Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of group MapBiomas that monitors the rate of forest destruction, has warned 2020 could be even worse for the rainforest if urgent measures are not introduced in the run up to this year’s dry season.

"It would be expected that it will be worse than last year unless something really big happens in the next two or three months to avoid the high season of deforestation that starts in May" Mr Azevedo said.

The worlds largest rainforest, largely contained within Brazil's borders, stands as a bulwark against global warming because of the vast amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide it soaks up from the atmosphere.

It also provides Brazil with hydropower, and its abundant rain provides irrigation-free agriculture.

In November, a study published in Scientific Reorts found fires and the resulting soot from the rainforest was directly responsible for melting glaciers in the Andes more than 1,000 miles away.

Dr Newton de Magalhaes Neto, the study’s lead author, explained there is “the potential to increase glacier melting as snow that is darkened by black carbon or dust particles [that] reflect less light”.