Brazil to Increase Monitors in Rain Forest as Illegal Clearing Spreads
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Friday, January 25, 2008; Page A14
BRASILIA, Jan. 24 -- Brazil said Thursday that it would send additional federal police and environmental agents to the Amazon following an announcement that illegal clearing of the rain forest had jumped dramatically last year.
Authorities will also monitor the areas where the deforestation occurred in an attempt to prevent anyone from trying to plant crops or raise cattle there, Environment Minister Marina Silva said.
The measures were announced after President Luiz In¿cio Lula da Silva called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers to discuss new data that showed an apparent reversal of a three-year decline in deforestation.
The clearing of Brazil's Amazon rain forest jumped in the final months of 2007, spurred by high prices for corn, soy and cattle, environmental officials said. The 36 areas being targeted registered the highest rates of deforestation.
Officials will try to fine people or businesses that buy anything produced on the deforested land in the 36 small cities and towns, the environment minister said.
The plan means a 25 percent increase in the police force assigned to the region, though Justice Minister Tarso Genro did not say how many officers would take part.
If the plan doesn't work, Marina Silva said, Brazil "will have an environmental loss and an economic loss."
The Environment Ministry announced Wednesday that as many as 2,700 square miles of rain forest had been cleared from August through December, meaning that Brazil could lose 5,791 square miles of jungle by this August if the rate of deforestation continued.
That would be a 34 percent increase from the 4,334 square miles of forest that was cut down and burned from August 2006 through July of last year.
Although preliminary calculations can prove only that 1,287 square miles of rain forest were cleared from August through December, ministry executive secretary Jo¿o Paulo Capobianco said officials were still analyzing satellite imagery and working under the assumption that the higher amount of jungle had been cleared.
