Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon during 2000 hit the highest levels since 1995, satellite images have revealed.
Data from Brazil鈥檚 National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show 0.56 per cent of the rainforest was cut down in 2000. Over 12,250 square kilometres were logged, compared with 10,660 in 1999.
鈥淭he beginning of the new millennium could not have been worse for the Amazon. The figures are worrying if we look to the future,鈥� says the World Wildlife Fund.
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The rise was mostly down to increased logging by small scale farmers, says INPE. In response, Brazil鈥檚 environment ministry announced plans to introduce a logging licensing system, which will allow only holders of 鈥渆nvironmental licences鈥� to cut down trees.
鈥淎t first we will concentrate our work in the worst-affected areas, but the demand for licences on rural properties will apply for all of Amazonia,鈥� Mary Allegretti, Brazil鈥檚 secretary of co-ordination for the Amazon, told Reuters.
Official figures had showed a gradual reduction in logging since 1995, when 0.8 per cent of the forest in Brazil was destroyed.
However, a government bill that would allow Brazilian farmers to legally log larger areas of the Amazon is due to be put to the vote on 30 May. Environmentalists are campaigning against any change to the logging laws.
Most of the Amazon, which stretches over an area larger than western Europe, is in Brazil. The Amazon represents 40 per cent of the world鈥檚 rainforest and is an important sink for the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Related story: Amazon rainforest could suffer huge damage from road building (19/01/01)
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