Brasilia - The destruction of the Brazil's Amazon rain forest increased drastically in recent months after a two-year "breather," the government reported Wednesday evening. The monthly destruction rate surged from 234 square kilometres in August to 948 sq kilometres in December.
"We have never before detected such a high deforestation rate at this time of year," Gilberto Camara, the head of the National Institute for Space Research, which provides satellite imaging of the area, told a news conference in the capital Brasilia.
The five-month spike in destruction of the forest - known as "the lungs of the world" for its ability to consume greenhouse gases and produce oxygen - is four times as much as in the same period of 2004.
Between August and December, 3,235 sq kilometres of the world's largest rain forest was cleared, however, the figure is only preliminary and was likely to double as satellite images with higher resolution are analyzed, officials said.
The data is "extremely worrying," said Joao Paulo Capobianco, the environment ministry's executive secretary
Just a few months ago President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proudly announced how Brazil had managed to reduce deforestation by 50 per cent since July 2005.
The government said the success was due to policies such as controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership.
On Thursday, the government will decide on new measures to curb deforestation in the Amazon, said Environment Minister Marina Silva, adding that Brazil won't stand by idly and watch.
Since 1970 the Amazon has lost 700,000 sq kilometres of jungle. The largest rain forest on earth, the Amazon covers approximately 6 million square kilometres and is considered the world's richest species habitat.
