Brazil: Deforestation in Amazon declining

SAO PAULO, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The Brazilian government says deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has declined for the third straight year.

While Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva applauded his nation's efforts to limit deforestation, he said more could have been done to enhance those efforts, the BBC reported Saturday.

Nonetheless, government figures showed that between August 2006 and July 2007, deforestation in the Amazon declined by 20 percent overall.

Yet those estimates, based on satellite images, still revealed a portion of the rainforest equal to the size of Jamaica had been lost.

Brazil's success in limiting deforestation also was questioned by the environmental group Greenpeace, which said more recent satellite photos have shown deforestation is on the rise in the Amazon.

The BBC said some analysts have explained that the declines may have been caused by a temporary decline in the market costs of related products and have warned additional deforestation could occur in the near future.