Amazon Deforestation Shoots Up in June - Forest the Size of Los Angeles Cleared in One Month
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 08. 5.09
photo: Shea Hazarian via flickr
Though Brazil has pledged to slow Amazon deforestation, and several groups are making headlines trying to tackle the leading cause of that deforestation, cattle ranching, AFP reports new data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research that shows the area of trees chopped down in June was four times that of May:
In June some 578 square kilometers, mostly in Para and Mato Grosso states, was cleared. In the 12-month period from July 2008-June 2009, a total of 4,700 square kilometers was chopped down.
To give you a reference point, that's an area the size of Los Angeles. Imagine it, in one month an area the size of the US's second largest city cleared of trees.
Currently cattle ranching is responsible for 80% of deforestation in the Amazon, with ranches now occupying an area the size of Iceland.
via: AFP/Yahoo News
Deforestation
Stopping Deforestation, Greening Agriculture Better Than Carbon Capture & Storage, UNEP Report Says
Carbon Emissions From Amazon Deforestation Increase as Older Forest Cleared
Tropical Deforestation Brings Economic Boom, Followed by Human & Ecological Bust
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- What's My Cheeseburger Got to Do with Deforestation and Changing Weather Patterns?
- Why Wait Till 2012? 8 Quasi-Serious Ways to Ward Off the Apocalypse Now
- Just Say No to Polite Small Talk This Thanksgiving: How to Handle 7 Hairy Topics and Keep the Peace
- Focus on Focus Earth: The Endangered American Prairie Makes Environmentalists Out of Ranchers
- Focus Earth Episode: Man Vs. Nature
- Meet Ann Snook, The Nature Conservancy's Maya Forest Program Manager
Comments ()
