Amazon Deforestation Up Six Percent in 2004

[Guest guest]

Amazon Deforestation Up Six Percent in 2004

 

Source >

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050518232409990001 & cid=911

 

BRASILIA, Brazil (May 18) - Deforestation in the

Amazon rain forest in 2004 was the second worst ever,

figures released by the Brazilian government showed

Wednesday. Satellite photos and data showed that

ranchers, soybean farmers and loggers burned and cut

down a near-record area of 10,088 square miles of rain

forest in the 12 months ending in August 2004, the

Brazilian Environmental Ministry said.

 

The destruction was nearly 6 percent higher than in

the same period the year before, when 9,500 square

miles were destroyed.

 

The deforestation hit record numbers in 1995, when the

Amazon shrank a record 11,200 square miles, an area

roughly the size of Belgium or the American state of

Massachusetts.

 

The Amazon forest - which sprawls over 1.6 million

square miles and covers more than half the country -

is a key component of the global environment. The

jungle is sometimes called the world's " lung " because

its billions of trees produce oxygen and absorb carbon

dioxide from the atmosphere.

 

Environmentalists were shocked with the new figures,

which were announced nearly a year after the Brazilian

government announced a $140 million package to curtail

destruction.

 

" It's a tragedy, a demonstration that more needs to be

done by the government, " said Paulo Adario, the head

of Greenpeace's Amazon program. " Clearly, Amazon

deforestation is not one of the government's priority

right now. "

 

Government officials were expecting an increase in

destruction of only about 2 percent.

 

" We will intensify our actions to fight illegal

deforestation in the most critical areas, " Environment

Minister Marina Silva said in a statement.

 

She noted that deforestation in several Amazon states

decreased compared to the previous period thanks to

the government's efforts to implement " more lasting

and effective " measures.

 

Brazil's rain forest is as big as western Europe and

covers 60 percent of the country's territory. Experts

say as much as 20 percent of its 1.6 million square

miles has already been destroyed by development,

logging and farming.

 

Last year, the government announced that 9,170 square

miles of rain forest had vanished in 2003, but on

Wednesday it corrected the figure to 9,500 square

miles.

 

05/18/05 23:22 EDT