Flora Journal Entry

Brazil Steps Up Deforestation Fight (January 5, 2009)

Brazil is stepping up its efforts to stop the destruction of its remaining Amazon rain forest. The nation announced a new target of cutting deforestation by 70 percent over the next ten years. The new effort will hopefully reverse the massive habitat loss that threatens thousands of rain forest species. By protecting rain forest trees, the nation also hopes to slow the pace of climate change. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, to make food during photosynthesis.

Despite past efforts to stop it, the destruction of Brazil's rain forest has continued at an alarming pace. The rate of deforestation jumped nearly 70 percent over the past year, the biggest increase in three years. Between August 2007 and August 2008, more than 3,100 square miles (7,750 square km) of Brazil's rain forest were lost, according to the National Institute for Space Research. Brazil lost 2.7 percent of its total Amazon forest in 2007. Early signs are the numbers for 2008 could be even worse. A growing demand for soy crops and beef gets much of the blame.

It's not that Brazil isn't trying. The government has made more money available to fight illegal logging in the Amazon Basin. It also stopped giving loans to farmers who clear forests to plant crops. But environmental groups say it needs to do much more to protect the remaining rain forest.

The Amazon rain forest covers 1.6 million square miles (4 million square km) of Brazil, or three-fifths of its total land area. About 20 percent of the rain forest has already been lost. Worldwide, an estimated 78 million acres of rain forest are lost each year, an area roughly the size of Poland. Scientists estimate the planet is losing an average of about 50,000 species that inhabit these forests each year. These species become extinct as their habitat disappears.