At the international climate summit this month in Bonn, Germany, tropical countries reinforced their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, but trends in the Amazon region could jeopardize those pledges. After climbing to more than 25,000 square kilometers (9,700 sq miles) in 2004, Brazil’s annual deforestation rates fell to less than 5,000 square kilometers (1,900 sq miles) in 2012. They have shown some upticks in recent years, however, and land clearing is on the rise in Peru, which has the second-largest expanse of Amazonian forest. Infrastructure construction, especially of dams and roads, is expanding in the region, and with it comes land speculation and deforestation. Those problems are exacerbated by fires, which dry out forest edges, making them more vulnerable to future... [Log in to read more]
