Brazil to survey the Amazon rainforest

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BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Brazil's Forestry Ministry says it plans to do an inventory of the trees in the Amazon rainforest -- an undertaking that will take four years to complete.

The survey will provide detailed data on tree species, soils and biodiversity in the rainforest, the BBC reported Friday.

"We are going to come to know the rainforest from within," Forestry Minister Antonio Carlos Hummel said.

In 2009, the Brazilian government made a commitment to decrease deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent by the year 2020. Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said the survey will help the government to create environmental policies.

"In international debates about climate change, for example, we will know how much forest we have and what state it is in [...], we'll discover species, and gain knowledge about species becoming extinct, as well as information about the distribution of the forest and its potential economic use," Teixeira said.