Yann Walter, Yahoo News 3 Jun 08;
Alarming new figures showing worsening deforestation in the Amazon have embarrassed Brazil's government, which is accused of making concessions to the powerful food producer lobby.
Brazil's National Space Research Institute, which uses satellites to calculate how much of the vast rainforest has been destroyed, this week announced that another 1,132 square kilometers (437 square miles) had been cut or burned down, based on April imagery.
That was a big increase over the deforestation recorded in March, when the institute noted 146 square kilometers had gone -- although heavy cloud cover that month prevented satellites from getting pictures of three quarters of the Amazon.
In April, half the forest was cloaked from the lenses in orbit.
A Greenpeace representative in Brazil, Sergio Leitao, told AFP that the April data were "extremely worrying."
WWF, another environmental protection group, said in a statement it was "very concerned" about the latest figures and urged Brazil to reinforce control mechanisms for the forest.
Brazil's new environment minister, Carlos Minc, acknowledged that "the deforestation this year will be greater than that of last year."
He blamed high world prices for soya and beef -- two major Brazilian exports -- for the increased clearing of the Amazon by farmers.
WWF agreed, saying "the restart of deforestation shows that market needs are taking over from environmental issues and that environmental regulations are insufficient."
But Greenpeace and other environmental protection groups also accuse the government of having simply caved in to big and powerful agricultural concerns, such as those owned by a soya baron, Blairo Maggi.
Maggi is also governor of Mato Grosso state, which contains a large chunk of devastated Amazon forest.
Minc's respected predecessor, Marina Silva, resigned unexpectedly last month after losing a string of battles within the government against ministers wanting to develop the Amazon, egged on by the powerful agro-business lobby.
According to the space research institute, 794 square kilometers of forest in Mato Grasso disappeared last month, meaning more than two-thirds of the confirmed deforestation occurred in that territory.
The institute's figures show 11,200 square kilometers of Amazon forest were destroyed last year -- an area nearly equivalent to nearly half the size of Sicily.
Experts estimate 2008's total will be close to 20,000 square kilometers.
In the past two decades, 700,000 square kilometers of the four million square kilometers that make up the forest have been razed, which corresponds to an area the size of a football field disappearing every 10 seconds.
Brazil has been stung by international criticism of its flagging green credentials and by suggestions that the preservation of the Amazon should be taken away from it.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has stressed that "the Amazon belongs to the Brazilian people" -- but also announced a new series of conservation laws will be unveiled in coming days.
Minc, whose past active record as environmental secretary for the state of Rio de Janeiro earned Greenpeace approval, has declared he would do all he could to battle against those encroaching on the forest.
"Cattle-raising is responsible for more than 80 percent of the deforestation," he stated in a media conference late Monday.
Illegal ranches will be seized, he warned, and a green belt would be created to delimit the zone up to which pastures could be cleared.
There is much skepticism over what progress the measures will bring.
"The government has to learn to balance economic development and environmental protection, otherwise the Amazon will disappear," Leitao warned.
