Reversal Of Fortune: Deforestation Of Amazon

Rainforest Increased By 28% Over Past Year

By Patricia Rey Malln@PReyMallen on November 15 2013 3:15 PM

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The devastation to the Amazon jungle increased by almost one-third in 2012, according
to studies made by the Brazilian government. This development represents a dramatic
reversal of what was formerly seen as solid progress made over the prior decade in the
fight against deforestation of the largest tropicalrainforest in the world. Data from the
last 12 months collected by satellite showed that the damage in the Amazonian region
expanded by 28 percent in comparison to the previous year. The damaged area added
up to 5,843 square kilometers (2,255 square miles), roughly the size of the small U.S.
state of Delaware.

The increase in deforestation was largely caused by the expansion of farming areas and
the development of infrastructure projects, reported the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
This is not being alarmist, it is real numbers, said Mrcio Astrini, a coordinator with
the Greenpeace environmental activist organization These figures would reverse the
trend of decreasing devastation, though the magnitude of the loss was not as devastating
as in 2004, when 27,000 square kilometers (16,770 square miles) of Amazon terrain
were destroyed.

Environmentalists also blame reforms the government made to a forest protection law
last year. The bill, a long-standing demand of the countrys farming lobby, was passed in
2012 after several vetoes by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Among other measures,
the reforms reduced the number of protected areas in farms and also allowed
landowners to develop on certain forest-lands. According to the World Bank, agriculture
accounts for 5 percent of the Brazilian GDP, making it one of the nations most
important industries.
If you sleep with the ruralist [agricultural] lobby, you wake up with deforestation,
quipped Amazon expert Paulo Adario of Greenpeace on Twitter. The Brazilian state
deflected such criticism. Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said that the
government is working to reverse this crime, but that the Rousseff administration was
not to blame. This swing [in deforestation trends] is not related to any federal
government fund cuts for law enforcement, she said in a press conference on Thursday,
adding that 4,000 criminal actions have been taken against people responsible for
deforestation over the past year.
The Brazilian government made a commitment back in 2009 to reduce deforestation in
the Amazon by 80 percent over the next decade. Brazil, in fact, exhibited the best
improvement of any country in environmental matters, cutting its deforestation rate in
half between 2000 and 2012 -- from approximately 40,000 square kilometers per year
(24,800 square miles) to 20,000 square kilometers (12,400 square miles), according to
the BBC. According to a study by the University of Maryland, the earth as a whole lost
2.3 million square kilometers of tree cover between 2000-12, largely due to logging, fire,
disease or storms. However, the planet also gained 800,000 square kilometers of new
forest, translating into a net loss of 1.5 million square kilometers, equal to the size of
Mongolia.