Rainforest loss in the Amazon tops 200,000 square miles, new figures from Brazilian government.

Rainforest loss in the Amazon tops 200,000 square miles, new figures from Brazilian government mongabay.com May 20, 2005 New figures from the Brazilian government show that 10,088 square miles of rain forest were destroyed in the 12 months ending in August 2004. Deforestation in the Amazon in 2004 was the second worst ever as rain forest was cleared for cattle ranches and soy farms. Deforestation Figures for Brazil YearDeforestation [sq mi]Deforestation


Year		 Deforestation
[sq mi]		 Deforestation
[sq km]
1978-1988* 8,158 21,130
1989 6,944 17,985
1990 5,332 13,810
1991 4,297 11,130
1992 5,322 13,786
1993 5,950 15,410
1994 5,751 14,896
1995 11,219 29,059
1996 7,013 18,160
1997 5,034 13,040
1998 6,501 16,840
1999 6,663 17,259
2000 7,658 19,836
2001 7,027 18,130
2002 9,845 25,500
2003 9,500 24,605
2004 10,088 26,129
TOTAL 203,882 528,005

All figures derived from official National Institute of Space Research (INPA) figures *For the 1978-1988 period the figures represent the average annual rates of deforestation.

Scientists are concerned that widespread deforestation in the Amazon could have global consequences through species extinction and climate change. Nearly half the total deforestation last year took place in Mato Grosso state, where rain forests are being converted into large soy plantations. Blairo Maggi, the governor of the state, is world’s single largest soy producer. Soy has become Brazil’s biggest farm export — equal to about $10 billion in 2004 — thanks to a booming market fueled by high demand from China and, as the result of a new variety of soybean developed by Brazilian scientists to flourish in rainforest climate, the country is on the verge of supplanting the United States as the world’s leading exporter of soybeans. Each year Brazil is opening up an area of cropland the size of Maryland.