Brazil admits that a 69 percent increase in deforestation has occurred in the last year. The cause is the rising demand for soy and cattle farmers pushing them to cut down trees to create land for their crops. The National Institute for Space Research, or INPE (who monitor destruction of the Amazon) confirmed that 3,088 square miles of the Amazon was destroyed between August 2007 and August 2008. Brazil’s own Environment Minister Carlos Minc said, “We're not content, Deforestation has to fall more and the conditions for sustainable development have to improve.” Brazil has begun fighting illegal Amazon loggers, another cause for deforestation, and eliminated bank loans to farmers that cleared the forest to plant their crops.
Deforestation has plagued the Amazon rain forest for a long time, and yet it still plagues it in high numbers today. Chico Mendez tried ending deforestation, but even then is has not stopped. In the past year, the increase in deforestation has been the most in three years. With Brazil still having its own problems in the government, the real enforcement of the preservation of the Amazon has not occurred. The Amazon is commonly known as the lungs of the world, and with our already growing environment problems, the Amazon poses a great threat if it is not saved.
Illegal logging and farmers that destroy the forest to create a space are two of the biggest factors that create deforestation. Many of the Brazilian people seek the land to make a fortune, and with Brazils economic troubles, its population resorts to the Amazon. Other major companies try to illegally take the Amazon forest for its wood. Brazil’s dry season runs from May to July, a time period prone to heavy deforestation rates. The Brazilian government must act quick and really enforce the preservation of the Amazon forest. The forest covers 60 percent of Brazil, 20 percent of that land has already been deforested.
