By Andre Soliani
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region increased this year for the first time since 2004 as surging prices for cattle and soybeans led ranchers to seek farm land in the forest.
The world’s largest rainforest lost 11,968 square kilometers (4,600 square miles), an area about 10 times as large as New York City, in the 12 months through July 2008, the National Institute of Space Research said today on its Web Site. The loss compares with 11,532 square kilometers in the same period a year earlier.
The destruction of the forest was less than forecast by the government in the beginning of the second quarter.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has tightened rules against illegal logging since December, responding to preliminary figures that signaled deforestation could reach as much as 15,000 square kilometers, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said.
“We are back to a trend in which deforestation falls,” Minc told reporters in Brasilia. “I hope the rate drops below 10,000 square kilometers next year.”
The pace of deforestation had been falling since it reached a nine-year high of 27,379 square kilometers in 2004. It accelerated in the end of last year and beginning of 2008 as commodity prices surged, Minc said.
He took office in May 27 with the challenge to curb deforestation without obstructing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Growth Acceleration Program, which includes building at least two dams in the Amazon basin and a nuclear power plant near two historic seaside towns in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The government cut bank loans to farmers in the rainforest basin who don’t meet environmental requirements, seized cattle grazing in illegal areas, and announced plans to create three new natural reserves in an attempt to halt deforestation.
Lula created on Aug. 1 an international fund that will seek to raise $21 billion in donations over the next 13 years to finance conservation and sustainable development projects in the Amazon.
Latin America’s biggest economy will also adopt targets to reduce deforestation, which will be announced next week, Minc said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andre Soliani in Brasilia atasoliani@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 28, 2008 13:24 EST