The deforestation rate in the amazon has increased about ⅓ times as much as it normally has been in 2012. This set dramatically set back the progress being made over the past decade to preserve this tropical beauty. The newly damaged area totaled up to be about 5,843 square kilometers, about 2,255 square miles, roughly the size of the small American state of Delaware. The cause of this rapid change to the deforestation rate has to do with agricultural land expansions and new infrastructures. It also has to do with the reforms made to a Forest Protection Law bill last year. The reforms to this bill included less protected area of the rainforest and allowed landowners to expand their farms into areas where forests were present, therefore leading to the deforestation of that area. Izabella Teixeira, Minister of the environment in Brazil says, “This swing [in deforestation trends] is not related to any federal government fund cuts for law enforcement.” She also added that 4,000 actions had been taken against criminals who had been repsonsbile for deforestation actions. The Brazillian government committed to reduce deforestation by 80% in 2009 within the next decade. This allowed Brazil to show the most improvement in it’s deforestation rate compared to any country, cutting it’s deforestation rate in half between the years 2000 and 2012. The rate went from 40,000 square kilometers per year to just 20,000 square kilometers per year. A study was done by the University of Maryland that showed that 2.3 million square kilometers of forest was lost in the world as a whole between the years 2000 and 2012 due to logging, legal and illegal, fire, disease, or storms. However, 800,000 square kilometers of new forest was gained, making the net loss 1.5 million square kilometers, roughly the size of Mongolia.
The picture above shows what is causing deforestation in the Amazon. A majority of the loss of forest in the Amazon has to due with cattle ranches. Acres of forest are cleared away to provide sufficient space for cattle to graze.
The picture above shows what is causing deforestation in the Amazon. A majority of the loss of forest in the Amazon has to due with cattle ranches. Acres of forest are cleared away to provide sufficient space for cattle to graze.