The Toronto Star, Sept. 30, 2008
The Amazon is being deforested more than twice as fast as last year, Brazilian officials said yesterday, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three years of declines in the deforestation rate.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc said coming nationwide elections are partly to blame, with mayors in the rain forest region turning a blind eye to illegal logging, hoping to gain local votes.
Minc also said the six largest deforested areas since 2005 all belong to the Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), a government agency that distributes land to the poor. Together 223,000 hectares of rain forest were destroyed as settlers chopped down trees to sell and plant crops.
Non-government environmentalists blame the global spike in food prices for encouraging soy farmers and cattle ranchers to clear land for crops and grazing.
Elections play a part but "the tendency of deforestation rising is deeply related to the fact that food prices are going up," said Paulo Adario, who co-ordinates Greenpeace's Amazon campaign.
Amazon destruction jumped 228 per cent in August when compared with the same month a year ago, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, which uses satellites to track illegal logging.
Some 756 square kilometres of Amazon was destroyed last month, compared with 230 square kilometres in August 2007.
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