20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down in the last 4 decades
More rainforest has been lost in the last 40 years than in the first 450 years of colonization
Scientists believe that, at this rate, another 20% will be lost in the next 20 years (Wallace)
Over 289,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed since 1978 (Butler Destruction)
Deforestation by country. (Butler Destruction)
Levels of deforestation over time. (Butler Destruction)
Fields cleared for soy farming. (Butler Destruction)
Fields cleared for cattle ranching. (Butler Destruction).
Interview:
Yale Environment 360: "Deforestation is now rising dramatically in the Brazilian Amazon. When did this begin?"
Philip Fearnside: "Deforestation went up a bit — they call it the hiccup — in 2013, but now in just the past six months there has been an explosion. Deforestation, as measured from images taken by Brazil’s DETER satellite system, far more than doubled from September 2014 through January 2015 over what it had been during those same months a year earlier." (Schiffman)