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LATINAMERICANEWS
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Wednesday 01
September 2010 |
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Brazil's
Deforestation
Shrinks
To
Record
Low
RIO DE
JANEIRO
-
Deforestation
in
Brazil's
Amazon
rainforest
has
reached
a record
low
since
2004,
local
research
institutes
and
officials
said
here
Tuesday.
Brazil's
National
Institute
for
Space
Research
(INPE)
announced
Tuesday
that
deforestation
in the
country's
Amazon
rainforest
region
totaled
2,295.87
square
km in
the
August
2009 to
July
2010
period,
down
47.5
percent
from the
August
2008 to
July
2009
period.
In July,
the
deforested
area in
the
region
was
485.1
square
km, down
42
percent
from the
same
month in
2009,
but up
96
percent
compared
with the
previous
month.
According
to the
INPE,
the
actual
deforestation
may have
been
higher,
since
clouds
prevented
the
institute's
system
from
being
able to
monitor
a total
of 29
percent
of the
Amazon
rainforest
region.
Brazil's
northern
state of
Para
registered
the
highest
deforested
area at
237.9
square
km in
July
this
year,
followed
by the
midwestern
state of
Mato
Grosso
at 102.2
square
km, and
Rondonia
state,
also in
the
northern
region,
at 70
square
km.
The
deforestation
rate in
Brazil's
Amazon
region
has
decreased
48
percent
between
August
2009 and
July
2010,
compared
with the
period
from
August
2008 to
July
2009.
This
represents
the
lowest
rate
registered
by the
Real-time
Deforestation
Detection
System
(Deter)
since
2004.
"In
July,
deforestation
fell 42
percent
compared
to the
previous
month,
according
to
Deter,
which is
controlled
by
Brazil's
National
Institute
for
Space
Research,"
Brazil's
Environment
Minister
Izabella
Teixeira
said at
a press
conference
Tuesday.
According
to the
Environment
Ministry,
these
figures
are very
close to
reality,
since
the
regions
with the
largest
deforestation
spots
were not
disturbed
by a
cloud
cover
during
the
period
that the
satellite
was
collecting
images.
Teixeira
expects
the data
registered
by Deter
will be
confirmed
in
November
by
another
system
from
INPE,
the
Project
for
Monitoring
Deforestation
in the
Amazon (Prodes),
which
calculates
the
annual
consolidated
rate.
Prodes
is more
accurate
because
it
allows
to
evaluate
smaller
areas.
But
despite
the
different
methodology,
the
evaluation
of Deter
usually
anticipates
the
results
of
Prodes.
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