NEWS IN ENGLISH – Deforestation has slowed in Brazil

10/02/2012 10:11

Priscilla Mazenotti        Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – The rhythm of deforestation in Brazil slowed significantly in 2008 and 2009 in the regions known as Atlantic Rainforest (“Mata Atlântica”), Pantanal and Pampas, according to a report released yesterday by the Ministry of Environment.

[the Atlantic Rainforest (or just Atlantic Forest) once extended the entire length of the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul and into parts of Paraguay and Argentina. It was characterized by high arboreal species diversity, consisting of tropical and subtropical forest, semi- deciduous forest and mangrove forest, which covered as much as 1.5 million square kilometers when the Portuguese arrived in 1500. Today it is restricted to some 4,000 square kilometers along the coast of Brazil and small parts of Paraguay and Argentina]

[the Pantanal, technically savanna steppe, is mainly located in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso (the Central West region of Brazil), but extends into parts of Bolivia and Paraguay (where it is known as Chaco). It is one of the world’s greatest freshwater wetlands, running for around 600 kilometers, more or less north to south, along the course of the Paraguay River. At the height of the rainy season the floodplain covers over 200,000 square kilometers]

[Pampa is an indigenous word meaning “plain,” and in South America, the Pampas refers to an enormous area of over 750,000 square kilometers that covers a large part of Argentina, most of Uruguay and Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. The Pampas are vast, fertile lowlands, with an appropriate climate and adequate year-round rainfall that makes them some of the best farmland in the world]

Minister Izabella Teixeira, speaking at a news conference, explained: “The results show that the magnitude of deforestation has been reduced. Although deforestation continues, it is occurring at a level much lower than it was in 2008. Our most recent survey found forest loss in the Atlantic Rainforest during the period at 0.02%. We are working toward the goal we all want: zero deforestation.”

With regard to deforestation in the Pantanal and the Pampas, Teixeira reported that the numbers for the period showed that the forest area was reduced 0.18% and 0.12%, respectively.

In Brazil’s other biomes, the numbers were slightly higher. In the savanna (“cerrado”) there was a reduction of 0.37%. In the arid backlands of the Northeast (“caatinga”), the reduction was 0.23%. And in the Amazon, the reduction was 0.17%.

According to the secretary of Biodiversity and Forests at the Ministry of Environment, Bráulio Dias, “The reduced rhythm of deforestation is partly the result of advances in productivity and research that make it unnecessary to expand farmland in order to increase production.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Cai ritmo de desmatamento na Mata Atlântica, no Pantanal e nos Pampas