Amazon forest shrinking

Deforestation in the Amazon rain forest in 2004 was the second worst on record, figures released by the Brazilian Government showed.

Satellite photos and data showed that ranchers, soybean farmers and loggers burned and cut down a near-record area of 26,130 square kilometres of rain forest in the 12 months ending in August 2004, the Brazilian Environmental Ministry said on Wednesday.

The destruction was nearly 6 per cent higher than in the same period the year before, when 24,600 square kilometres were destroyed.

The deforestation hit record numbers in 1995, when the Amazon shrank a record 29,000 square kilometres, an area roughly the size of Belgium or the American state of Massachusetts.

The survival of the Amazon forest which sprawls over 4.1 million square kilometres and covers more than half the country is key to that of the planet.

The jungle is sometimes called the world's "lung" because its billions of trees produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Environmentalists were shocked with the new figures, which were announced nearly a year after the Brazilian Government announced a $140 million (Dh514 million) package to curtail destruction.

"It's a tragedy, a demonstration that more needs to be done by the government," said Paulo Adario, the head of Greenpeace's Amazon programme. "Clearly, Amazon deforestation is not one of the government's priorities right now."

Government officials were expecting an increase in destruction of only about 2 per cent.

"We will intensify our actions to fight illegal deforestation in the most critical areas," Environment Minister Marina Silva said in a statement.

She noted that deforestation in several Amazon states decreased compared to the previous period thanks to the government's efforts to implement "more lasting and effective" measures.

Brazil's rain forest is as big as western Europe and covers 60 per cent of the country's territory.

Experts say as much as 20 per cent of its 4.14 million square kilometres has already been destroyed by development, logging and farming.

Last year, the government announced that 23,750 square kilometres of rain forest had vanished in 2003, but on Wednesday it corrected the figure to 24,600 square kilometres.

The survival of the Amazon forest which sprawls over 4.1 millionsq km and covers more than half the country is key to that of the planet.