amazon
Posted by jamie — 3 December 2010 at 12:12pm
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You'll no doubt be pleased to hear that deforestation rates in the Amazon have fallen, according to figures from the government of Brazil. The National Institute for Space Research reported yesterday that just 6,451km2 of rainforest were felled between August 2009 and July 2010, a drop of 14 per cent on the previous year.
Last edited 22 October 2010 at 3:03pm
As the largest remaining rainforest on Earth, the Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world; almost half of all known species live in the Amazon. Sadly, it's also experiencing one of the highest rates of deforestation on the planet. While our Amazon campaign has had some remarkable successes over the past few years, there is still much more to do to protect the Amazon.
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Last edited 4 February 2014 at 3:24pm
The Earth's ancient forests form some of the most diverse ecosystems known to science and are vital in regulating the world's climate. But eighty per cent of them have already been destroyed or degraded, and the remaining forests are under threat. Greenpeace is working to end illegal and destructive logging of the world's ancient forests, and to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples and species that depend on them.
License: All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace
Posted by jamie — 9 July 2010 at 3:23pm
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All is not doom and gloom in Brazil.
The soya moratorium, which Greenpeace helped establish in 2006, has been renewed
for another 12 months, which means another year of soya traders refusing to do
business with farmers growing crops on newly deforested land. In addition,
companies like McDonalds, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op have reaffirmed their
commitment to the moratorium, ensuring that they continue to demand non-Amazon
soya at the consumer end too.
There's no denying that the moratorium has been a
success. Since it was established four years ago, deforestation rates in the
Amazon have decreased while soya yields have increased, showing that (as Paulo
Adario from our Brazilian office put it) "production and conservation can go
hand in hand".
With last year's agreement between three of the largest
slaughterhouses in Brazil to prevent cattle ranching
making further in-roads into the rainforest, we've made great strides in
breaking the link between agricultural production and deforestation. But the
current attempts to change the forest code could undo much of the success of
recent years so there's no rest for the wicked just yet.
Posted by jamie — 7 July 2010 at 5:27pm
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While the EU has just voted to ban
illegal timber, yesterday Brazil
came a step closer to severely weakening the forest
code which has helped protect the Amazon rainforest for over 70 years. The
Brazilian congress approved the plan to amend the legislation, and if it
becomes law then the area of the rainforest which can be legally destroyed will dramatically increase.
Paulo Adario and others
from our Brazilian office were present and activists protested against a yes vote. There was also plenty
of criticism from other concerned parties - environmentalists, rural
organisations and legal representatives, for instance - but still the vote
passed.
The amended forest code still has
to pass several more hurdles before it reaches the statute books, but with each
yes vote it becomes more and more likely it will do so. Eventually, it will
have to go to the president who can sign it into law or kick it out. Hopefully
it won't get that far, but we'll let you know how you can help if and when the
time comes.
