Afskovning i den brasilianske regnskov er den laveste i 22 år, ifølge Brasiliens regering.
Satellite monitoring showed about 6.450 square kilometres of rainforest were cleared between August 2009 and July 2010, a drop of 14 percent compared with the previous 12 months.
Brazilian officials said the reduction was due to better monitoring and police control. Environment minister Izabella Teixeira said the figures were “fantastic”.
Teixeira said Brazil was moving closer to the target of reducing deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent by 2020 – goal set by the Brazilian government at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen last December.
The commitment means that the South American nation must reduce annual deforestation rates to around 3.500 square km in 10 years’ time.
Despite reduction in deforestation, the total deforestation area in the country is still larger in size than the capital city of Brasilia.
The figures coincide with a UN global climate conference in Mexico. There, Brazil wants to showcase it is one of the few major economies significantly slashing its greenhouse gas emissions, which for it come mostly from burning or rotting trees.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized industrial nations for lacking commitment to cut greenhouse gases, saying it was disappointing that almost no heads of state would attend the Cancun summit (heller ikke statsminister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V), red.).
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
