New data from the Brazil government shows that there has been a huge increase in deforestation within the Amazon during the past few months. Brazil’s National Space Research Agency (INPE)’s rapid deforestation detection system (DETER) recorded 593 square kilometers of forest was cleared during March and April 2011, an area of rainforest 10 times the size of Manhattan and a 473% increase over 2010 figures for those two months. Over 80% of this occurred in the southern-most state of Mato Grosso where most of the land ends up as cattle pasture or agricultural land.
It is widely believed that this recent surge has been to take advantage prior to the Brazil government’s proposal to change the “Forest Code” which, if passed, will require landowners to maintain at least 80% of their land holding in the Amazon as rainforest. For the full story visit Mongabay.
Tags: Brazil, deforestation, Forestry
