Brazil says Amazon deforestation rose 28% in a year

Brazil says the rate of deforestation in the Amazon increased by 28% between August 2012 and last July, after years of decline. The government is working to reverse this "crime", Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said. Activists have blamed the increase in destruction on a controversial reform to Brazil's forest protection law. Last year Brazil reported the lowest rate of deforestation in the Amazon since monitoring began. The provisional statistics from August 2012 to last July suggest that the area suffering deforestation was 5,843 sq km (2,255 sq miles), compared to 4,571 sq km (1,765 sq miles) in the previous 12 months. The 28% rise interrupts a period of declining deforestation which began in 2009. However, it still remains the second lowest annual figure for forest loss in absolute terms. The worst year on record was 2004, when 27,000 sq km of forest was destroyed. Monthly data from several scientific institutions had suggested the deforestation rate might be on the rise.

Global alliance aims to tackle forest crime

 
Illegal logging damages biodiversity and undermines people's livelihoods.
 

Interpol and the United Nations have joined forces to launch an initiative to tackle global forest crime.

Project Leaf will target criminals involved in illegal logging and timber trafficking.

The scheme will also provide support to enforcement agencies in countries

with the biggest problems, Interpol said.

It is estimated that more than a quarter of the world's population relies on

forests for their livelihoods, fuel, food and medicines.

David Higgins, Interpol's Environmental Crime Programme manager, said that

illegal logging was no longer a issue that was restricted by national

boundaries.

"The international legislation to protect forests and curtail illegal logging

demonstrates this," he commented.

"Project leaf will ensure these global laws are supported by global

enforcement and that the criminals responsible are brought to justice - no

matter their location, movements or resources."

Project leaf (Law Enforcement Assistance for Forests) is a partnership

between the UN Environment Programme (Unep) and Interpol, with funding provided

by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.