22 December 2008

Brazilians Try to Restore Atlantic Rainforest

Atlantic Forest in Morro do Moreno.Image via Wikipedia
Living Planet looks at the fightback of the other Brazilian rainforest.
- Report: Tim Hirsch

The destruction of the world's rainforests shows no signs of let-up, especially in Brazil's Amazon region. But there is the other Brazilian forest, the Atlantic Forest, where the local population is fighting hard to restore at least parts.

Recent news from the Amazon region has been grim, with satellite data showing no let-up in destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. But better signals have been coming out of an even more threatened South American rainforest, one which is even more diverse in wildlife than the Amazon itself.

The Atlantic Forest, which once stretched continuously for some three thousand kilometres along the Eastern coast of Brazil, has already lost nearly ninety-three per cent of its original cover – giving way to farms, coastal developments and cities. New figures, however, show that the rate of deforestation has slowed by more than two-thirds, and there are ambitious plans to restore at least part of what has been lost.

Listen to the Podcast at Living Planet here (the piece about the Atlantic Forest starts about 3/4 of the way through the podcast).

All the revenue generated here at How to Make a Difference is donated to SALVEASERRA, an NGO working to restore degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest by promoting sustainable land use and agro-reforestation techniques.

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