Amazon Rainforest damage and destruction

37,000 sq km of Amazon rainforest destroyed or damaged in 2008

New satellite system provides a more detailed look at forest degradation and may help Brazil stop deforestation before it occurs.

Logging and fires damaged nearly 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles) of Amazon rainforest in the August 2007-July 2008 period, an increase of 67 percent over the prior year period, according to a new mapping system developed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The damage comes on top of the nearly 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq mi) of rainforest that was cleared during the year.

The increase in activity has been attributed to the sharp rise in commodity prices over the past two years. While grain and meat prices have plunged since last March, higher prices have provided an impetus for converting land for agriculture and pasture. Accordingly, the burning season of 2007 (July-September) saw record numbers of fires in some parts of the Amazon as farmers, speculators, and ranchers set vast areas ablaze to prepare for the 2008 growing season. The high levels of degradation relative to deforestation for 2007-2008 may be an indication that some of the area slated for development was abandoned — before clearing — as commodity prices fell.

Mato Grosso and Pará, states on Brazil's agricultural frontier, saw the highest levels of deforestation and degradation. Large swathes of forest land and cerrado (tropical savanna) in both states have been converted for large cattle ranches and mechanized soy farms in recent years.

Monitoring deforestation before it occurs

The new system, dubbed DEGRAD, is based on special processing of satellite images provided by LANDSAT and the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS). DEGRAD may allow Brazil to become the first rainforest nation to accurately track carbon dioxide released during deforestation and forest degradation, the source of roughly two-thirds of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions. Such monitoring capacity is critical to REDD, a proposed mechanism for compensating countries for reducing such emissions. Brazil expects to enhance the system when it launches the Amazon-1, an advanced satellite that will use cloud-penetrating technology to allow more detailed monitoring of the Amazon.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0319-brazil_inpe_degrad.html