Brazil Government Figures Confirm Spike in Amazon Deforestation

Deforestation in the Amazon increased by nearly a third over the past year, according to Brazilian government figures released on Thursday, confirming a feared reversal in what had been steady progress over the past decade against destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

Brazil tracks the amount of land cleared each year as part of its efforts to protect the Amazon, a Western European-sized jungle that is an abundant source of the world's oxygen and fresh water and considered by scientists to be a crucial buffer against climate change.

Brazil Government Figures Confirm Spike in Amazon Deforestation