Good news on Amazon deforestation ... maybe

Deforestation rates in Brazil's Amazon dropped 45% last year over 2008's figures, continuing a five-year trend. But don't celebrate just yet.

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Cool Green Science Blog

Thu, Mar 18 2010 at 11:44 AM

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BURNING THE AMAZON: Deforestation from fire, Roraima state, Brazil. (Photo: John Maier, Jr/Still Images)

What a difference a year makes! When the 2007-2008 Brazilian Amazon deforestation figures came out in 2008 and showed a slight uptick, our leaders here in Brazil did what politicians the world over do when presented with inconvenient facts: they tried to shoot the messenger.

President Lula and his chief of staff, Djilma Roussef, were loud in their protestations that the methodology was wrong, that the figures were questionable, etc. etc. Which would have been more convincing had Brazil’s Space Institute, the institute responsible for the numbers, not compiled over the last 25 years a deserved reputation as the world’s leading centre for tracking deforestation.

Fortunately, Brazil being the thriving democracy it is, the Space Institute’s director robustly defended the numbers, the media had a field day, and Lula and Djilma cut their losses and moved on.

No questioning of the latest figures released in November, however, and easy to see why — the preliminary figure for 2008-2009 is around 7,000 square kilometers, the lowest since records began in 1988.

This report accelerates a long-term trend of decline in Amazon deforestation that began in 2004-2005. Lula and Djilma — now Lula’s candidate to succeed him as president in this year’s election — practically elbowed the environment minister away from the cameras in the nationally televised press conference to announce the report, which led off all the evening news bulletins. All very amusing for the few who remembered what happened exactly a year ago.

So — unambiguous good news for the Amazon, surely? Well, yes, but only up to a point. I have a lot of sympathy for governments of all stripes that constantly have to deal with environmentalists who are determined to see doom and gloom from even the most upbeat of news items, but there is less to this good news than meets the eye.

The Brazilian government was quick to credit its own actions for the decline in deforestation, and it is true that the federal authorities have been much more active in recent years in cracking down on illegal logging and keeping invaders out of protected areas and indigenous reserves. They deserve a great deal of credit for the deforestation trend, especially as much federal enforcement takes place in the teeth of entrenched resistance from state and local governments in the Amazon, dominated as they often are by the deforesters and their allies.

But this year’s figure fell by a huge amount — over 50 percent from the year before. Which leads the reasonable observer to conclude that the sharp (and, in Brazil, short) economic downturn which began in late 2008 must have had a lot to do with it. That downturn is now finished and our economy here in Brazil is roaring ahead, along with China’s, as the emerging economies lead the world out of recession for the first time.

We can be confident that real progress on deforestation is being made when we have a number of years of high economic growth combined with low deforestation. That looked like it might be starting to happen from 2005 to 2007, but then along came the 2008-2009 economic crash to mess up the trend pattern.

Brazil looks very well set for 5-6 percent GDP growth over the next three to four years. If deforestation stays at or even below this year’s level at that level of GDP growth, it really will be time to open the champagne. For now, jubilant press conferences or no, best to keep it on ice.

— Text by David Cleary, Cool Green Science Blog

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Comment: 1

Mikosargent Fukuda Mar 18 2010 at 12:45 PM

Iam happy to read they are slowing down in killing everything that used to live in the forest, maybe just maybe they have realised if they continue like that , they are actually killing themselfs , Why dont they start to have tourist tours to the Amazon etc, and start collecting leaves flowers bark which than can get researched for medicines which in those areas are badly needed anyway, goverments of other countries should put money there to help them to develop both industries that way they world

.... More

is sending a extemly positive message to all those countries who do the same , if we help we in turn help our self and our planet and it has been proven that we need trees to breathe and Animals to live , this are not the only important issues , what about the squad that goes killing kids in the streets indescriminantly , how idiotic is that , why would you want to kill your future , if I was there and carried a gun and saw one of those illegitimates (males) shooting a kid he would end up the same no question asked this is how I feel about specimans like this who are not deserving being called human !, comming back to the flora and fauna , why couldn,t they domesticate some of the flora meaning flowers tor sale , we all like gardens this way there would be a way of earning much needed funding we just have to quarantine the produce at the other end to make sure its safe for that particular country , and why arent they making prisoners work as laborers making all sorts of necessary repairs of roads or new ones etc .make them useful to the good of their country with their officers watching and having firearms just in case ......... if you have animals you consider in slight annoying problems , sale them the same way as above , problem solved! regards and the very best to you Miko

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