Amazon rainforest deforestation rate doubles in late 2007

In Brazil, researchers say that Amazonian deforestation has increased in pace in 2007 and is likely to rise throughout 2008. Carlos Nobre, a scientist with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, said that 2,300 square miles of forest had been converted to farmland in the past four months, compared with 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ending last July.

A Leeds University professor and expert on deforestation issues said that recent data indicates that, on a global basis, some types of tropical forest have increased since 1990, rather than decreasing. He said that losses in areas such as the Amazon have been more than offset in tropical forest gains in countries such as the Gambia and Vietnam.

In Bali last month, the WWF released a report concluding that half of the Amazon rainforest would disappear by 2030 and would release 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result, or twice the annual emissions of all countries combined. At the Clinton Global Initiative earlier this year, primate scientist Jane Goodall said that crops growing for biofuels is damaging rain forests in Asia, Africa and South America and adding to the emissions blamed for global warming.

“We’re cutting down forests now to grow sugarcane and palm oil for biofuels and our forests are being hacked into by so many interests that it makes them more and more important to save now,” Goodall said.

A recent study published by the Africa Biodiversity Network said that current biofuel project development and selection practices in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Benin could lead to environmental and humanitarian disaster. The report cited the conversion of one-third of Uganda’s Mabira Rainforest to sugarcane for ethanol production.

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