According to environment minister of Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon rain forest dropped 18% over the past 12 months, falling to the second-lowest level in a quarter century. Experts have shown that 4,848 square kilometres (1,870 square miles) of rain forest were destroyed between August 2013 and July 2014: that’s a bit larger than the US state of Rhode Island. Data decreased from 5,891 square kilometres (2,275 square miles) razed during the same period a year earlier, due to the adoption of a controversial bill revising the Forest Code. The measure passed in 2012 after more than a decade-long effort by Brazil’s powerful agricultural lobby. This bill reduced restrictions for landowners with smaller properties, allowing them to clear land closer to riverbanks. Many environmental groups had been stressing for a long time the urgency of the situation, warning of a second consecutive spike in the annual deforestation numbers, as the forest continues to be razed to create areas for cattle grazing, soy plantations and logging. In this context, the announcement of the minister came as a surprise. According to Marco Lentini, who coordinates the Amazon program for the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Brazil branch, the announcement represents a good signal. However, this doesn’t mean that deforestation issue is over, Lentini added. Brazil needs to establish stronger measures to achieve concrete results, experts say. Lentini argues that the country is still very far from the objective of having minimum deforestation, referring to Brazil’s pledge to reduce deforestation to 3,900 square kilometres (1,506 square miles) per year by 2020. In 1988, Brazil started to use satellites to monitor the forest. The country’s lowest recorded deforestation figure since 1988 came in 2012, when 4,571 square kilometres (1,765 square miles) were clear-cut, experts show. The Amazon is considered one of the world’s most important natural defences against global warming due to its capacity to absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide. In addition to that, the Amazon is home to around one-third of the planet’s biodiversity. Environmental experts outline that rain forest clearing is responsible for about 75% of Brazil’s emissions, as vegetation is burned and felled trees rot. The gLAWcal Team EPSEI project Wednesday, 26 November (Source: The Guardian)