De-forestation is reduced in Brazil
At last some cheery news amongst all the gloom. The Brazilian government is hailing its success at reducing the amount of illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. Between August 2005 and July 2006 only 5,400 square miles of the rainforest was felled. That is a reduction of 25% from the previous year. The government is claiming this as a success for their policies of clamping down on criminal gangs that are illegally destroying the rainforest. They claim they have saved around 600 million trees, 20,000 birds and 700,000 primates. Environmental groups have said the levels of de-forestation are reduced because of the drop in the price of soya beans (one of the reason trees are felled is to make room for soya bean plantations). Either way, it is good news for the planet.
What I find astounding are the actual figures. 5,400 square miles of rainforest destroyed in one year is incredible. The 600 million trees that were saved might just as easily have been destroyed but for the price of soya beans. How are we allowing this level destruction to take place? Why are governments not taking action to stop the destruction of the world’s forests? Politicians talk about reducing climate change emissions yet stand idly by as the very systems that absorb CO2 are being destroyed.
