Rain-Forest Damage
Much Worse Than Thought
October 21, 2005 — By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Loss of trees in the
Brazilian rain forest is much worse than had been thought, according to
a new study. Losses in clear-cut areas where all trees are removed have
been monitored by satellite observations, but those were not able to
detect the cutting of individual trees in areas where others are left
behind.
Now, a more detailed satellite observation system is able to detect
selective logging, and the findings show much more widespread timber
harvests than had been thought, according to a report in Friday's issue
of the journal Science.
Annually, selective logging disturbs an area totaling about the size of
Connecticut, according to lead author Gregory Asner of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington and Stanford University.
"Selective logging negatively impacts many plants and animals and
increases erosion and fires. Additionally, up to 25 percent more carbon
dioxide is released to the atmosphere each year, above that from
deforestation, from the decomposition of what the loggers leave behind,"
Asner said in a statement.
Illegal logging was even discovered in some protected national reserves,
parks and indigenous lands, the researchers found.
"We expected to see large areas of logging, but the extent to which
logging penetrates deep into the frontier is much more dramatic than we
anticipated," said co-author Michael Keller of the U.S. Forest Service.
Source: Associated Press |