Newsletter October 2007

A study done by scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology showed that land-use policies in Peru have been extremely important in controlling rainforest degradation. The scientists analyzed 7 years of high-resolution satellite data covering almost 80% of the Peruvian Amazon. They concluded that land-use policies which designated specific areas for logging and protected areas for conservation helped keep rainforest degradation under control from 1999 to 2005. Rainforest destruction was greater in neighboring Brazil, which lacked a national forest concession plan until last year.

Of the 255,000 square miles of Peruvian rainforest, the government set aside 40,000 square miles for commercial timber production. The scientists found that the deforestation rate was at an average of 244 square miles per year, and that 86% of the damaged areas where in the department of Madre de Dios, in areas near the city of Pucallpa. They noticed a faster rate of destruction during the last couple of years and found that 75% of the damage was in areas within 12.5 miles of the nearest roads. They also found that 1 to 2% of the deforestation occurred in protected areas adjacent to areas designated for logging, calling it a “leakage of human activity.”

Environmentalists are looking to preserve the world's forests to combat global warming caused by the emission of carbon dioxide, which is consumed by forests. About 150,000 square kilometers (57,915 square miles) are destroyed every year by logging, ranching and other commercial activities, according to the Web site of The Rainforest Foundation, a London-based nonprofit.

Source: Bloomberg.com, livinginperu.com

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• Newsletter December 2007
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