Treehugger has a great article on the statistics of Amazon forest and the rates of deforestation. I highly recommend giving it a read…
Ten months ago Brazil began implementing its Green Arch, Legal Land program and this year deforestation in the Amazon has dropped by 51 percent. According to INPE, of the 43 municipalities with the highest Amazon deforestation rates, 12 saw their rates decline more than 80 percent in the period between August 2008 and February 2009, and another 18 experienced rate drops between 54 percent and 80 percent. Only one municipality showed an increase at 34 percent. The goal of the program is to reduce deforestation by 80 percent by 2020. As Jaymi recently wrote, the decreases are also due to increased policing. The Brazilian Minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc claims that over the last year the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources “seized 62 boats, 237 trucks, and 44 tractors, and the federal police initiated 650 probes and arrested 298 people.”
Via Treehgger – article here
photo: Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
