Scope: Amazon deforestation in Brazil back to alarming level.

Friday May 20, 8:32 AM Scope: Amazon deforestation in Brazil back to alarming level (Kyodo) _ The statistics released by the Brazilian government concerning deforestation levels in the Amazon rainforest last year have alarmed environmentalists. The world’s largest tropical forest lost 26,130 square kilometers of original vegetation in the period, according to the Environment Ministry. The annual devastated area is the second largest since 1995, when 29,059 square km of the rainforest was destroyed. The destroyed area may be even larger because the National Institute of Space Research, which produced the statistics based on satellite images, will close the study only by the end of 2005. Environmentalists say the Brazilian authorities are not doing enough to conserve the rainforest. "Sustainable development has not yet been adopted by the federal government and by most state governments as a policy for the Amazon, although this is the base of documents, projects and official speeches," said the Brazilian branch of WWF, the international environmentalist organization.

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