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A deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil's northern state of Para in this September 15, 2009 file photo. Photo: AP

Brazilian government, green groups at odds over Amazon deforestation

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon basin dropped by 18 per cent over the past year, the government said, but the official figures were at odds with a conservation group's findings.

AFP

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon basin dropped by 18 per cent over the past year, the government said, but the official figures were at odds with a conservation group's findings.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said deforestation from August last year to July totalled 4,848 sq km, the second-lowest figure on record.

Teixeira insisted the official estimate was the most accurate.

"Anything else is speculation. We have been working hard to end deforestation," she said. She presented the government figures just days before the Lima Climate Change Conference, which opens on Monday.

Teixeira said the government had made significant recent progress on "preventive control", tightening regulations and increasing public awareness of the issue to cut deforestation by 83 per cent since 2004.

Imazon responded by saying it had concerns about the official data, which "throw into some doubt the effectiveness of current prevention and deforestation control policies".

The government measure covers Brazil's nine Amazonian states using the Brazil's Space Research Institute's satellite forest clearing detection service.

Greenpeace Brazil's Amazon director Paulo Adario said the government figures comprised some "good news."

But he added: "There is nothing to celebrate as we are nowhere near zero deforestation.

"We were all concerned as the downward trend was interrupted last year. It seems that may have been just a blip," Adario said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Government, greens differ on Amazon deforestation
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