Brazil Amazon destruction rises after 3-year fall

Raymond Colitt, Reuters 28 Nov 08;

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Destruction of the Amazon forest in Brazil accelerated for the first time in four years, the government said on Friday, as high commodity prices tempted farmers and ranchers to slash more trees.

Satellite images showed nearly 4,633 square miles (12,000 sq km), or an area nearly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut, were chopped down in the 12 months through July, the National Institute for Space Studies said.

That is up from 4,332 square miles (11,224 sq km) last year but still down from a peak of 10,570 square miles (27,379 sq km) in 2004.

Environment Minister Carlos Minc, at a news conference in the capital Brasilia, said he was dissatisfied with the figure but insisted it would have been much worse without government policies aimed at tackling illegal logging.

"Many had expected an increase of 30-40 percent and we managed to stabilize it," Minc said.

"When you confiscate soy and beef it hurts them in the pocket," he said, referring to several crackdowns this year.

The government this year increased policing, impounded farm products from illegally cleared land and cut financing for unregistered properties, stepping up its efforts after figures showed a spike in deforestation late last year.

But President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's commitment to preserving the environment has come into question after Minc's predecessor Marina Silva, known as an Amazon defender, resigned in May citing difficulty pushing through her agenda.

"Today's figures are unacceptable but the long-term trend remains positive and they show that it is possible to do something about deforestation," Paulo Moutinho, coordinator at the Amazon Research Institute, told Reuters.

Critics say the environmental protection agency is understaffed and underfunded to face thousands of often heavily armed loggers and ranchers in the world's largest rain forest.

On Sunday a crowd in Paragominas, a town that depends heavily on logging, ransacked offices of the environment agency Ibama, torched its garage, and used a tractor to break down the entrance of the hotel where its agents stayed. It also stole 12 trucks with confiscated wood.

Commodity prices have plunged in recent weeks, but were near record highs for most of the year, increasing farmers' incentives to clear forest.

The government must do more to change the economics of deforestation to make a real difference, analysts say.

"We need to make it more expensive to cut a tree than to preserve it," said Moutinho.

He proposes local authorities and states be rewarded with tax breaks if they meet deforestation targets by cutting back logging and promoting sustainable industries from fruit picking to tourism. (Editing by Alan Elsner)

Amazon deforestation up almost 4.0 percent
Yahoo News 28 Nov 08;

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazil's Amazon jungles, known as the lungs of the world, lost almost 12,000 square kilometres (4,800 sq. miles) in just 12 months, a rise of almost 4.0 percent, new figures showed Friday.

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said the deforestation of the vast jungles due to encroaching farm exploitation, was 3.8 percent higher from August 2007 to July 2008 than in the previous 12 months.

The areas most affected were in northern Para and in the central Mato Grosso region, which is a huge producer of soya beans.

Over the past three years, the Brazilian authorities have succeeded in sharply reducing the loss of the Amazon rainforests, the biggest zone of tropical woodland on the planet.

Brazil is fighting to preserve its five million square kilometers of Amazon forest, a battle which it wants to be recognized as a service against global warming.

It argues that its efforts should be rewarded with financial input from other countries which would go to helping poor Amazon populations that might otherwise turn to cutting down trees.

But the results from 2007-2008 show that a surface equivalent to Solvenia or Israel was lost compared with the previous year.

The government had warned that the figures were likely to rise and has brought in new measures to combat the problem, including a system of fines.

It has also passed a series of agreements with soya, meat, wood and mineral producers that they will not buy illegal products.

Environment Minister Carlos Minc has said that without these measures the deforestation would have been twice as large.