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Amazon deforestation rate falls to lowest on record! mongabay.com August 6, 2007
Between August 1, 2006 and July 30, 2007, some 3,863 square miles (10,010 square kilometers) of rainforest were cleared, a 28.7 percent drop from 2006 when 5,419 sq ml (14,040 sq km) were lost (2006 figures recently revised from 13,100 sq km). Deforestation rates have fallen sharply -- 63.5 percent -- since 2004 when 10,590 sq mi (27,429 sq km) were destroyed. The latest figures are based on analysis of 213 images of LANDSAT satellite and 90 CBERS images. Brazil's satellite monitoring system is among the most sophisticated in the world. Analysts say the drop in deforestation rate is due to economic trends, mainly lower prices for grains and beef, while the Brazilian government credits its own aggressive law enforcement efforts for cracking down on illegal forest clearing. Brazil has also dramatically expanded its network of protected areas in recent years, setting aside more than 100 million hectares of the Amazon basin from development since 2002.
Brazil now has some 173 million hectares of forest, an area nearly three times the size of France, under some form of protection, giving it the largest protected areas system in the world. Nevertheless some scientists believe the Amazon may be approaching a critical tipping point, with climate change putting the basin at risk of significant shifts in rainfall and temperatures. Some models project that temperatures in the Amazon could climb by as much as 8 degrees Celsius by 2100, spurring forest fires and drought while exacerbating "savannization ", whereby rainforest is replaced by savanna.
"When we put all this together we come up with a very bleak outlook for the Amazon rainforest. I don't have the final numbers, we're running these right now, but it's not out of the question to think that half of the basin will be either cleared or severely impoverished just 20 years from now." While Nepstad's projections are dire, he, like some other scientists are conservationists are hopeful that the tide is turning in the Amazon. Nepstad believes that increasing international pressure for sustainbly-produced products could help drive better management of the Amazon and other forests. "One very recent development is that commodity markets are demanding greater legality and greater stewardship for the entire production chain." Nepstad continued. "Meanwhile the international finance corporation (IFC), ABN Amro, Rabobank, and several other creditors are beginning to attach environmental conditions to their loans." These shifts could ultimately determine the fate of the Amazon, the planet's largest and most biodiverse rainforest. "It is very important not to succumb to the fatalism that so often affects discussions of Amazonia," said Dr. Philip Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon. "What happens depends on human decisions." Comments? News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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