Trees, Please

The teak and mahogany trees in the Amazon's rainforest and the Monterey pine and Callery pear in San Francisco’s urban jungle have new significance in light of recent news reports.

 

Deforestation in the Amazon is down by more than half, reports Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The success is largely the result of the government’s new Green Arch, Legal Land Program, which aims to reduce deforestation by 80 percent by 2020. From August 2009 to February 2010, the deforestation rate was 51 percent lower than it was over the same timeframe the year before.

 

“Green Arch, Legal Land focuses on 43 municipalities within the states of Amazonas, Maranh