Home
What's News
About
Contribute
Rainforests
���Mission
���Introduction
���Characteristics
���Biodiversity
���The Canopy
���Forest Floor
���Forest Waters
���Indigenous People
���Deforestation
���Consequences
���Saving Rainforests
���Country Profiles
���Works Cited
Deforestation Stats
Pictures
Books
Links
Site Map
Mongabay Sites
���Animal Photos
���Conservation
���Travel Tips
���Tropical Fish
Guestbook
Contact




Deforestation in the Amazon 2004

Saving the Amazon Rainforest

Soybeans in the Amazon

The Impact of Growing Demand for Beef on the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil

Brazil criticizes media coverage on Amazon deforestation

Deforestation Figures for Brazil


Year
Deforestation
[sq mi]
Deforestation
[sq km]
1978-1988*815821,130
19905,33213,810
19914,29711,130
19925,32213,786
19935,95015,410
19945,75114,896
199511,21929,059
19967,01318,160
19975,03413,040
19986,50116,840
19996,66317,259
20007,65819,836
20017,02718,130
20029,84525,500
20039,34324,130

All figures derived from official National
Institute of Space Research (INPA) figures


*For the 1978-1988 period the figures represent
the average annual rates of deforestation.


Brazil Designates 4 New Rainforest Parks

Brazil to protect more rainforest land
Friday, June 4, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil's president designated four new national forests to protect more than a million acres of rainforest, the government said Friday.

In a decree, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva named two sites in the coastal states of Paraiba and Parana and two in the Amazon states of Amapa and Maranhao.

Brazilian national forests are protected areas that can be used for ecotourism, scientific research and sustainable use projects.

Logging, cattle ranching and farming have already claimed about 20 percent of two million square miles that is legally considered Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

About 7 percent, or 153 million acres, of Brazil's national territory is currently protected in national parks, forests and sustainable development reserves.




WWF Helps Set Up Amazon Trust Fund; Goal is Protection of Area Bigger than US Parks System Over Next 10 Years
For Release: 06/03/2004
For media inquiries, contact:
Michael Ross
michael.ross@ wwfus.org
202-778-9565


BRASILIA, Brazil -- World Wildlife Fund announced the creation Thursday of a permanent, multi-million dollar endowment to fund conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and the government of Brazil. In a ceremony at the presidential palace in Brasilia, WWF officials presented President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva with a check for $500,000 in seed money for the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) trust fund. The GEF contributed a matching $500,000 grant for the fund's initial capitalization.

The funds are in addition to some $80 million already raised by WWF and its partners to finance a 10-year plan to create a network of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon one and a half times larger than the entire U.S. National Parks system.

"With the establishment of the ARPA trust fund, we have reached an important milestone in our efforts to reverse the tide of deforestation and secure permanent protection for the Amazon," said Guillermo Castilleja, WWF vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. "While we still have a long way to go, ARPA is no longer a dream. It's a reality in the making."

When fully capitalized at $240 million, the ARPA trust fund will be used to maintain and ensure continued protection of a 190,000 square-mile network of national parks and sustainable use reserves spanning an area larger than the state of California.

Similar to successful trusts that WWF has set up around the world, in places like Bhutan, Mexico and the Philippines, the endowment fund will "help guarantee that the parks are protected in fact, not just in name," added Matt Perl, WWF director for Amazon protected areas.

Brazilian environmentalist Paulo Nogueira-Neto, a member of the board of WWF-Brazil, presented the WWF check to President Lula at a ceremony in the Planalto presidential palace. Other participants included Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva and Dr. Rosa Lemos de Sa, conservation director of WWF-Brazil.

One of the largest and most ambitious conservation projects ever undertaken, ARPA is a partnership between the Brazilian government, the World Bank, the GEF, World Wildlife Fund, the German Development Bank and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund.

More than 20,000 square miles of new protected areas have already been established under ARPA, including the 15,000 square-mile Tumucumaque Mountains National Park. Other areas have been mapped and are undergoing scientific evaluation for inclusion in the ARPA network.

Editors' Note: ARPA was conceived and implemented with support from the World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation & Sustainable Use. For more information on the Alliance, visit the Forest Alliance Web site.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=119



Copyright 2004, The Associated Press and the World Wildlife Fund



CONTENT COPYRIGHT The Associated Press. THIS CONTENT IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.

mongabay.com users agree to the following as a condition for use of this material:

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from mongabay.com, please contact me.


what's new | madagascar | help support the site | search | about | contact

Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2006