Amazon deforestation falls in June

About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Free newsletter

SHARE:

Amazon deforestation falls in June
mongabay.com
August 05, 2009

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during June dropped at least 4.4 percent to the year earlier period, keeping Brazil on pace for the lowest forest loss since annual record-keeping began in 1988.

Figures released by INPE, Brazil's National Space Agency, showed that forest loss detected by its DETER (for Real-time Detection of Deforestation) system for monitoring deforestation fell from 417 square kilometers in June 2008 to 399 square kilometers in June 2009. Final figures for the 2008/2009 year are due out in the next couple of months.

The data comes a month-and-a-half after Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said deforestation for the 2008/2009 year would be below 10,000 square kilometers, the lowest level in more than 20 years. Falling commodity prices and government action to crack down on illegal clearing are credited for the decline in deforestation rates.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon typically peaks during the June-August dry season when ranchers and farmers burn forest to clear land for development. A widely published AFP story noting that Amazon deforestation is on the rise based on a comparison between forest loss in May and June ignores this fact.

CITATION:
mongabay.com (August 05, 2009). Amazon deforestation falls in June. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0805-amazon.html

Tags:
amazon brazil deforestation rainforests forests south america latin america environment green

print

Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home

Advertisements:

Mongabay Store
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt		Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog		Licking this frog may make you crazy

DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

RECENT FEATURES

		As Amazon deforestation falls, food production rises
		Biggest environmental news stories of 2011
		The year in review for rainforests
		Our top nature pictures of 2011

Photos

Brazil	China	Colombia
Costa Rica	Deforestation	Gabon
India	Indonesia	Kenya
Madagascar	Peru	Rainforest

ABOUT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com

CALENDARS

BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS

Conservation in an age of mass extinction

FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS

Copyright mongabay 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect,
an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region.
Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.