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Amazon rainforest shrinking again

by Dheera Sujan

31-01-2008

The Amazon rainforest, the largest in the world, has often been likened to our planet's lungs, but it seems that those lungs are shrivelling and drying out.

banks-of-the-Amazon.jpg
 

For years vast tracts of land were being stripped by logging, and slashed and burned to make room for pasture land. In 2004 the deforestation reached a peak of 28,000 square kilometres - an area equivalent to the size of Belgium. But the Brazilian government, headed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, promised to make some changes.

For a while it seemed as if those changes - extra policing, a shift in land laws and the placing of environmental agents in the region - were working. Deforestation slowed down considerably, bottoming at around 11,000 square kilometres a year or so ago, but recent Brazilian satellite photos have raised the alarm again.

Speeding up
In the last months of 2007, there was clear evidence that deforestation is speeding up once more. The Brazilian environmental ministry said 7000 square kilometres were stripped between August and December last year - which has been calculated to bring the rate of  deforestation in 2007 up 34 percent higher than the previous year.

map-rainforests.jpg

Some experts blame the rising costs of commodities and the global increase in demand for ethanol due to rising oil prices - all of which conspire to make it worthwhile for farmers to defy bans and risk punitive fines for stripping forest land. Brazil is one of the world's greatest beef producers and, after the US, the second largest producer of soy used widely for animal feed and in processed food and drink.

Scientists are saying that not only is deforestation directly linked to climate change, but the thousands of forest fires throughout the region of the Amazon at any given time are also polluting the air and drying up the land, compromising the Amazon's ability to re-green itself.
Around 20 percent of the Amazon has already been felled and some estimates claim that - at the current rate of deforestation - 55 percent of the Amazon rainforest could be "savannah" by 2030.

 

Tags: Amazon, Beef production, Brazil, Deforestation, Environmental protection, Logging, Lula da Silva, Rainforests, Soy

Reaction(s):


Chris, 06-02-2008 -

It's great that you're taking action on such an important cause. I myself have found a petition where we can make a statement no matter where we're from. Also, as we gain signatures, money is donated to the Rainforest Action Network. http://www.petitionearth.com/viewpetition.php?id=73 We must stand strong on such an important issue.

Evert C. Weidner, 31-01-2008 - USA

It seems to me that the fault of failing to halt deforestation of the rain forests, is not only of those living in the specific areas, but due to the thoughtless demand for logging by the outside world, and in no small matter also because of most silly demands for questionable and inefficient ethanol use plus other agricultural acreage use there, which all could be better allocated to less critical areas. So it is really the world's responsibility to take the blame for not having a rational protocol, but one known as the NIMBY effect.

aristoteles, 31-01-2008 - usa

January 31, 2008. On concern to: The Dutch government is not in favour of raising pension age, but the OECD recommends increasing it step-by-step to 67 years of age. Your government is almost clear, but we suggest dicreasing to 60 will bring more benefit to the whole citizenry and economy. The OECD should listen to Juan Luis Guerra merengues like the Cost of life. Good luck.

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