Brazil’s plan to save the Amazon is flawed

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<h1>Brazil’s plan to save the Amazon is flawed</h1>
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<p><P>The Brazilian government has recently announced new measures — such as satellite monitoring and involvement of additional ministries — to slow down the destruction of the Amazon forest.</P><br />
<P>These new measures do not go far enough, argues a group of Latin America-based scientists in this letter to <em>Science</em>.</P><br />
<P>The main flaw, they say, is that the plan fails to address one of the most critical drivers of forest destruction: the rapid proliferation of new highways and other infrastructure, which greatly increases access to the Amazonian frontier. New transport projects frequently lead to a dramatic rise in illegal deforestation, mining and hunting, they say, and must be minimised if forest loss is to be reduced.</P><br />
<P><a  href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/304/5674/1109b?ijkey=xVStcxr8vQhaA&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full letter in <EM>Science</EM></A><EM> </EM></P>Reference: <em>Science</em> 304, 1109 (2004)</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/brazils-plan-to-save-the-amazon-is-flawed/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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The Brazilian government has recently announced new measures — such as satellite monitoring and involvement of additional ministries — to slow down the destruction of the Amazon forest.

These new measures do not go far enough, argues a group of Latin America-based scientists in this letter to Science.

The main flaw, they say, is that the plan fails to address one of the most critical drivers of forest destruction: the rapid proliferation of new highways and other infrastructure, which greatly increases access to the Amazonian frontier. New transport projects frequently lead to a dramatic rise in illegal deforestation, mining and hunting, they say, and must be minimised if forest loss is to be reduced.

Link to full letter in Science

Reference: Science 304, 1109 (2004)