Friends of the Earth: Press Release: SHOCK NEW FIGURES SHOW WORST LOSS OF BRAZILIAN RAINFOREST EVER

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SHOCK NEW FIGURES SHOW WORST LOSS OF BRAZILIAN RAINFOREST EVER

26 Jan 1998

The figures are compiled by the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, based on satellite findings from the National Space Research Institute. They show that in 1995 29,059 square kilometres of forest were lost compared to 14,896 square kilometres in 1994. Forest loss in 1996 was 18,161 square kilometres. The Brazilian Government suppressed the 1995 data for over a year.

In 1996, Britain imported 234,000 cubic metres of tropical timber, making this country a major user of Brazilian timber. Last year, the Brazilian Government admitted that four fifths of the timber extracted from the rain forest was obtained illegally.

Sarah Tyack, Rainforest Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:

“We have had indications that the new deforestation figures would be bad, but we are still shocked to see that the rate of forest loss is now even worse than the late 1980s. These figures have potentially disastrous implications for climate change and species loss. The Brazilian Government and the international timber trade must act now to reduce the rate of forest loss. The world will pay a high price for any continuing delay.”

[1] In 1994, President Cardoso, reacted to the worsening deforestation figures by announcing a two year moratorium on issuing licenses for new mahogany logging concessions.
[2] The number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon between July and November (the logging season) increased by over 50% between 1996 and 1997 according to the NOAA-12 satellite readings.

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Media team