Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
Deforestation in Brazil increases once more |
|
 
|
|
|
|
10 Apr 2013, 12:29 PM
|
Under cover of the Easter holiday weekend, the Brazilian government quietly released deforestation figures showing an increase in deforestation for the first time in five years. These numbers were gleaned by using the DETER rapid response satellite system, a system that provides estimates of deforestation rates every month.
|
The figures show that between August 2012 and February 2013, the rates increased by an estimated 26.82% and an area of the Amazon larger than the size of the city of London disappeared.
In absolute numbers, that means 1,695 square kilometers (654 square miles) of forest have disappeared. That equals an area the size of 237,000 soccer fields.
The state of Maranhão saw the biggest increase (121%), followed by Tocantins (110%). However, Mato Grosso state continued to top the list of forest destruction with 734 square kilometers of forest lost.
The increase in deforestation rates can be directly attributed to the Brazilian government’s systematic dismantling of the laws and agencies that protect the Amazon. These changes opened up the Amazon for destruction, making the current citizen’s initiative for Zero Deforestation Law in Brazil even more necessary.
President Dilma Rousseff’s approval of a new Forest Code, a law that provides amnesty for crimes committed after 2008 in the Amazon and reduces large areas of protected land, paved the way for the increase in deforestation. The president also structurally weakened government agencies like IBAMA, the federal environmental enforcement agency, so unfortunately it won’t be a surprise if deforestation continues to rise in the Amazon.
More than 800,000 Brazilians have already signed onto a citizen’s initiative calling for a Zero Deforestation law that would offer full protection for the Amazon. With the president’s support this could become law. Greenpeace is calling on Rousseff to support a law for Zero Deforestation in Brazil.
Credits:: Photo Greenpeace - Rodrigo Baleia
|
|
|
|
