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Deforestation of the Amazon rises 69% in past 12 months

Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months — the first such increase in three years — as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees, officials said on Saturday.

Some 8,147km² of forest were destroyed between August last year and last month — a 69 percent increase over the 4,820km² felled in the previous 12 months, said the National Institute for Space Research, which monitors destruction of the Amazon.

“We’re not content,” Environment Minister Carlos Minc said. “Deforestation has to fall more and the conditions for sustainable development have to improve.”

The government has increased cash payments to fight illegal Amazon logging this year, and it eliminated bank loans to farmers who illegally clear forest to plant crops.

The country lost 2.7 percent of its Amazon rain forest last year, or 11,000km² Environmental officials fear even more land will be razed this year — but they have not forecast how much.

Minc says monthly deforestation rates have slowed since May, but environmental groups say seasonal shifts in tree cutting make the annual number a more accurate gauge.

The Amazon region covers nearly 60 percent of Brazil. About 20 percent of that land has already been deforested.
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