Amazon Destruction Rises Sharply in 2007

Source: Associated Press

Jan 24, 10:23 AM EST

Amazon Destruction Rises Sharply in 2007

By ALAN CLENDENNING
Associated Press Writer

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The rate of Amazon deforestation rose sharply during the final five months of 2007 as land was cleared for soy and cattle, prompting a top-level emergency meeting Thursday by government officials to deal with the problem.

Environment Minister Marina Silva and other ministers were heading to the presidential palace Thursday to meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about the report on deforestation issued late Wednesday. Silva's ministry estimates as much as 2,700 square miles of rain forest was cleared from August through December, meaning that Brazil could lose 5,790 square miles of jungle by August of this year if the rate continues.

That would be a sharp increase from the 4,334 square miles that was cut down and burned from August 2006 through July of last year.

Although preliminary calculations can only prove that 1,287 square miles of rain forest were cleared from August through December, ministry executive secretary Joao Paulo Capobianco said officials are analyzing satellite imagery and working under the assumption that the higher count of jungle was cleared. "We're working with the worst hypothesis," he said, according to Brazil's official Agencia Brasil news service.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRAZIL_AMAZON_DEFORESTATION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

proclaims the cocaine-addled resident of the White House.

"Give Me Liberty" - a great story.

One part of the story is set in the Amazon, with soldiers fighting to protect the forest from ravaging, land-clearing burger corporations.

If only that could happen...

or at least the planet's ability to sustain diverse life forms . . . the earth herself will survive quite nicely without humans, thank you very much . . .