Long-term threat to Amazon feared

The Hindu , Monday, December 10, 2007
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
SAO PAULO: Brazil announced a sharp drop in the rate of Amazon deforestation but environmentalists warned it could be a short-term trend masking the broader threat against the rainforest.

The Environment Ministry has reported that the rate of Amazon destruction dropped 20 per cent between August 2006 and July 2007. The report came the same day an environmental group warned that climate change together with deforestation could wipe out or severely damage nearly 60 per cent of the Amazon forest by 2030.

The Brazilian Ministry report showed the rainforest lost 11,224 sq km during the 12 months ending in July. In the prior 12-month period, 14,039 sq km were lost.

Large swathes of forest like the Amazon are also valuable “carbon sinks” or absorbers of carbon dioxide. Deforestation pours carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and kills off carbon-absorbing vegetation. — AP

 
SOURCE : The Hindu, Monday, December 10, 2007
 


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