From: Taiwan News
News Link: http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=998444&lang=eng_news
Brazil's environmental protection agency says it is doubling the number of its anti-deforestation agents in the Amazon to combat a traditional dry-season spike in illegal logging.
Between the months of July and September _ the region's driest months of the year _ the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, or Ibama, will deploy 1,400 inspectors, agency director Luciano Evaristo told The Associated Press this week.
Each of the agents will be backed by four police officials, while personnel in four helicopters will look for illegal logging from the air, Evaristo said.
Brazil makes up 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest's 2.7 million square miles (7 million square kilometers).
The government wants to limit deforestation to a maximum of 3,550 square miles (9,200 square kilometers) per year. During the past 20 years, annual deforestation has measured at least 4,250 square miles (11,000 square kilometers) a year.
IBAMA president Roberto Messias said that deforestation declined steadily during the past year, mainly as a result of increased police action and heavier-than-usual rain.
Anti-deforestation efforts also have been aided by prosecutors in the jungle state of Para, who have taken legal action against meatpacking industries using cattle raised in illegally deforested areas.
Major supermarket chains also have chipped in by refusing to buy meat without proof that it comes from cattle bred in an environmentally friendly manner.
"These measures have had a very important impact," said Paulo Barreto, of the environmental watchdog agency Imazon.
Equally important, Barreto added, is the global economic crisis, which has reduced demand for wood, beef and soybeans, another product produced in deforested areas.