Brazil has set up a crisis centre to combat increased deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the nation's environmental minister said yesterday.
Minister Izabella Teixeira said officials had to take action after satellite data showed a significant increase in deforestation over the past two months.
"We created a crisis committee... to determine and combat the causes of this increase," Mrs Teixeira said.
The committee, which will meet weekly, is made up of environmental agents, federal police, highway federal police and state agents. It will coordinate about 700 agents and police officers in the region to fight deforestation.
Satellite images from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research showed 230 square miles of deforestation in March and April, nearly six times more than in the same period last year.
Environmental experts warned that as the global economy recovers from financial crisis, the deforestation rates would rise as demand for soy and cattle raised in the Amazon increases and farmers and ranchers cleared more land to produce those products.
Author: Marco Sibaja | Source: Associated Press [May 19, 2011]
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| The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. One-fifth of the world's fresh water is in the Amazon Basin. One hectare (2.47 acres) may contain over 750 types of trees and 1500 species of higher plants [Credit: World Culture Pictorial] |
"We created a crisis committee... to determine and combat the causes of this increase," Mrs Teixeira said.
The committee, which will meet weekly, is made up of environmental agents, federal police, highway federal police and state agents. It will coordinate about 700 agents and police officers in the region to fight deforestation.
Satellite images from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research showed 230 square miles of deforestation in March and April, nearly six times more than in the same period last year.
Environmental experts warned that as the global economy recovers from financial crisis, the deforestation rates would rise as demand for soy and cattle raised in the Amazon increases and farmers and ranchers cleared more land to produce those products.
Author: Marco Sibaja | Source: Associated Press [May 19, 2011]