Rio de Janeiro: A non-government group that monitors the Amazon rainforest says the pace of deforestation is increasing.

Imazon said that satellite imagery show the region lost 2169 square kilometres (216,900 hectares) of forest in the most recent August-through-April period.

A deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil's northern state of Para. Credit:AP

That's a 20 per cent jump from the 1807 square kilometres lost over the same nine-month period the previous year.

Analysts blame uncontrolled logging and land invasion for much of the loss, some of which occurred in protected areas and Indigenous reserves.