Amazon deforestation falls significantly in 2010, according to preliminary data

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com
August 31, 2010 Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is down significantly since last year, according to preliminary estimates released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and Imazon, a Brazil-based NGO that tracks forest loss and degradation across the Amazon. Analysis of NASA MODIS data by Imazon found some 1,488 square kilometers of forest were cleared during the 12 months ended July 31, 2010, down 16 percent from the same period last year, when 1,766 square kilometers were deforested. Nearly half (47 percent) of forest loss occurred in the state of Para, where agricultural expansion is fast-expanding. Mato Grosso, the Amazon’s major cattle- and soy-producing state accounted for 23 percent of deforestation during the period. Forest loss during the most recent period contributed 95.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, nearly the annual emissions from energy use in Greece. Emissions for the year earlier period were estimated at 121 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to Imazon. …