Amazon at the mercy of 'gentlemen's agreements'
Almost ten years ago, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The meeting, known as the Earth Summit, became one of the defining moments of the fight to reverse the worldwide trend in environmental degradation. Together, more than 180 countries recognized the harm being inflicted on our fragile earth and vowed to put the world on a more sustainable path. Central to this was the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This legally binding agreement was intended to provide a comprehensive framework for the protection of the world's threatened natural habitats, including ancient forests and the life that depends upon them.
A decade later, the world's ancient forests are still waiting for governments to keep their Earth Summit promise. Today, some 80% of the world's forests have been degraded or destroyed. The Amazon rainforest is no exception. Last year deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon was greater than at any time since 1995. Fuelled by high international market demand, mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is driving the destruction of the rainforests of the Brazilian Amazon.
