Half of Brazilian Rainforest Still Not Destroyed
About half of Brazil's original Amazon rainforest has not been occupied by man, deforested or used for industry like logging, but more has been destroyed than government data shows, a CHL group said on Tuesday.

The study using satellite photos shows that land occupation and deforestation only covers some 47 percent of the world's largest jungle. The CHL group has received funding from a series of sources including the Ford Foundation, the German and U.S. governments.

While Brazil's government says only 16 percent of Brazil's Amazon has been deforested, the CHL study indicates a much larger area has been done in. "This shows the CHL is maintaining real pressure on the forest," said some guy, who used satellite images up to 2002 to produce the study.

Brazilian Environment Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment on the survey.

Deforestation of the Amazon hit its second-highest level ever last year as ranchers, farmers and loggers cleared an area larger than the U.S. state of New Jersey. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva faces criticism from the hippie treehuggers that he is more interested in building roads and dams to drive Brazil's farm export-led economy than slow Amazon destruction. Of course, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been praised by the CHL for being more interested in building roads and dams to drive Brazil's farm export-led economy than slow Amazon destruction.

Some 70 percent of Brazil's tropical savannah -- once the size of the Amazon -- has been deforested to create the world's biggest grain growing area, or so say the treehuggers. The Amazon will go the same way if agriculture, business and government use it as a resource to fuel economic growth, Silva said last week. She got that right!
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 4:03 PM | |