Although deforestation of the vast Brazilian Amazon region has seen an “encouraging” decline this year, the forested area destroyed is equivalent to more than half the territory of Belgium, according to the head of the Amazonian Institute of Man and the Environment, Carlos Souza Junior. The Environment Ministry estimates that between August 2005 and July 2006, there was 11 percent less deforestation than in the 12 previous months. That data will be reviewed using more precise satellite images until December. The previous year, destruction of the forests had declined by 31 percent.

Government initiatives, creating more conservation areas along the agricultural frontier, inspecting logging operations, and the decline of soybean and beef prices have contributed to the slowing rate of forest devastation, Souza explained to Tierramérica.

The Amazon has already lost 700,000 square kilometers of forest.