Less Destruction in the Amazon for the Year

Good news came out of Brazil from the AP yesterday.

“The destruction of the Amazon rain forest has slowed dramatically this year, the government said, but environmentalists said it was too soon to celebrate and urged caution with the statistics.

Preliminary data indicate that 3,551 square miles of rain forest was destroyed between August 2004 and July 2005, the Environment Ministry said Friday. The figure was half the area the ministry initially said was razed the previous year a total that was later revised upward to 10,190 square miles.

The ministry attributed the decline to a stronger police presence in the Amazon and tougher fines for illegal deforestation. Last year, the government launched a $140 million plan to reduce Amazon destruction.

Environmental defenders applauded the decline in destruction but warned that many factors including an off-season for farming may have contributed to a one-time drop.

A sharp decline in international soy prices has prompted less soy planting in Brazil, the world’s second-largest producer after the United States. Expanding soybean plantations are a big cause of Amazon destruction.”