Brazil last month launched back-to-back crackdowns against illegal land-clearing in the Amazon, responding to a dramatic spike in the region’s deforestation rate. Though the operations have involved sawmill closures, timber confiscation and fines, environmental advocates called the effort ill-conceived and woefully insufficient to address rampant rainforest destruction here. The first crackdown, Operation Amazon Guardians, was prompted by a surge in deforestation in which 1,249 square miles (3,235 sq kms) were cleared—an area larger than Rhode Island—during the last five months of 2007. (See “Deforestation surge fuels call for policy overhaul”—EcoAméricas, Feb. ’08.) The operation focused exclusively on Pará state, the center of illegal logging in Brazil. Over the course of a week, agents from Ibama, the enforcement arm... [Log in to read more]
