Destruction of Amazon escalates

SATELLITE photographs show the destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest has exploded this year, fuelling fears the Government's efforts to stop deforestation have been fruitless.

Brazil's DETER real-time monitoring system found that more than 900 sq km of forest vanished in April and about 6000 sq km were destroyed between last August and April.
That nine-month total surpassed the entire acreage in the Amazon that was destroyed over the previous 12 months, according to DETER data.

And worse is to come, environmentalists said.
The Amazon's dry season, when farmers do most of their burning and clearing, starts this month.
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Update 7/7/08: One-fifth of Amazon deforestation from preservation areas