11/08/2010 - The Governments
of the United States of America and the
Federative Republic of Brazil sign on Thursday
(August 12, 2010)
a Debt-for-Nature Agreement to reduce Brazil's
debt payments to the United States by close
to 21 million dollars over the next five
years. In return, the Government of Brazil
has committed these funds to support grants
to protect the country's tropical forests.
The agreement with Brazil
was made possible by the innovative Tropical
Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) of 1998.
Under the agreement, grants will support
activities to conserve protected areas,
improve natural resource management and
develop sustainable livelihoods for communities
that rely on forests.
The Brazil Agreement
marks the 16th initiative under the Tropical
Forest Conservation Act. Previous agreements
have been signed with Bangladesh, Belize,
Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Panama (two
agreements), Paraguay, Peru (two agreements),
and the Philippines. Over time, these debt-for-nature
programs will together generate more than
239 million dollars to protect tropical
forests around the world.
+ More
Amazon deforestation
falls by 49% in June
10/08/2010 - Data from
the Real Time Deforestation Detection System
(DETER), from the National Institute for
Space Research (INPE), reported a fall of
49% in deforestation in June 2010 over the
same period in 2009, confirming the downward
trend of deforested areas in the Amazon
Rainforest. Economic growth and falling
deforestation rates indicate that the fight
against deforestation has shown the expected
results.
Decreasing since 2004,
with exception of 2008, deforestation rates
should be well below the target of 9,000
Km2 established in the National Plan on
Climate Change, presented by the Brazilian
government at the Climate Conference in
Copenhagen at the end of last year.
The nine states in the
Amazon region register a fall in deforestation
rates, led by Pará, with the clearing
of 160.6 km2, followed by Mato Grosso and
Amazonas, with 36.5 km2 and 24.4 km2, respectively.
A total of 243.7 km2 were deforested in
June 2010 against 578 km2 in 2009/2010.
However, despite the reduction of deforestation
across the Amazon, some states and municipalities
still have alarming rates, for example,
Novo Progresso, Pará.
During a press conference
to announce the data, held yesterday (August
9) in Brasília, the minister Izabella
Teixeira said that by the end of the year,
with the results of PRODES (another deforestation
detection system from INPE), which measures
the accumulated deforestation during the
previous twelve months, the government will
be able to produce a more accurate diagnosis
on the set of factors that lead to deforestation
and formulate new approaches to combat deforestation
in critical areas.
