Latest Deforestation in Brazil Stories

Nobel Peace Prize laureates Al Gore and Wangari Maathai today called upon the United States to combat rapidly accelerating tropical deforestation as a central element in the fight against global poverty, climate change and international instability. At a luncheon hosted by the Avoided Deforestation Partners, Former Vice President Gore joined Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and 2004 Peace Prize winner, to emphasize the role deforestation plays in poverty, conflict and...

Amazon deforestation rate falls 63 percent in July RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The deforestation rate in the Amazon rainforest fell by 63 percent in July from the previous month, the third consecutive month in which deforestation rates have fallen, studies showed. From April to June, the deforested area was 1,124 square km, 1,096 square km and 870 square km respectively, said a study released Friday by Brazil's National Institute of Space Research (INPE). Brazil's Environment...

Brazil reduces estimate of 2008 Amazon rainforest destruction RIO DE JANEIRO, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc Tuesday said the government has revised its estimate of the Amazon rainforest's total destruction area for 2008 from 15,000 to 13,000 square km. According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), the deforestation in the Amazon region registered 1,096 square km in May, down from 1,123 square km in April. The minister said at a press...

160 elite Brazilian troops were sent to join with hundreds of police officers in the Amazon to combat illegal deforestation activity. The move comes on the heels of clashes last week in the state of Para between local workers and environmentalists in Tailandia, a town with a population of around 67,000. During the quarrel, more than 2,000 protesters blocked roads and forced inspectors out of the town before their work was completed.Tailandia was established 19 years ago. Since then, an...

A report issued late Wednesday showed that Amazon deforestation rose dramatically from August to December of last year, as land was cleared for soy and cattle. The report has prompted Environment Minister Marina Silva and other ministers to hold a top-level emergency meeting today with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.  Brazilian media reported that the president and the ministers would discuss emergency measures to reduce deforestation.Jungle is typically cleared in the Amazon to...

BALI, Indonesia -- Delegates at a U.N. climate conference have agreed to include forest conservation in any future discussions about a new global warming pact, paving the way for billions of dollars in new spending to attack illegal logging, officials said.With deforestation making up 20 percent of global emissions, world governments are desperate to find a solution to a problem that has been fueled by rising demand for timber and palm oil, widespread corruption and endemic poverty.The...

By Andrea WelshBRASILIA, Brazil -- Huge tracts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest were cleared legally and illegally in the past year, but the rate of deforestation slowed, the country's environment minister said on Tuesday.It was the second year in a row that the pace of the destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest declined. Booming demand for farm exports caused land-clearing to peak in 2004.A slowdown in farming-driven deforestation and a crackdown on illegal logging may have...

LONDON (Reuters) - About 40 percent of the Amazon's rainforests could be lost by 2050 unless more is done to prevent what could become one of the world's worst environmental crisis, scientists said on Wednesday. Existing laws and preserving public wildlife reserves will not be enough. Measures are also needed to protect rainforests from the impact of profitable industries such as cattle ranching and soy farming, they added. "By 2050, current trends in agricultural expansion will...

By Raymond ColittBRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's president on Thursday approved a measure offering huge chunks of the Amazon jungle to timber companies that comply with tough restrictions aimed at preserving the world's largest rain forest.Under the law signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the government will tender 40-year contracts allowing the highest bidder to log trees under a sustainable development plan.Some 32 million acres, or 3 percent of the Amazon rain forest, will...

By Andrew Hay BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian police on Wednesday arrested a gang that was forging thousands of logging permits in the Amazon, in the latest government effort to slow destruction of the world's largest rain forest. Over 400 federal police agents staged dawn raids across four Amazon states and arrested 35 people who produced and sold illegal permits to transport millions of dollars worth of hardwood timber. Brazil's government says its crackdown on illegal logging...