England’s wettest year on record. Severe heat waves in Russia. Droughts in the US. The past year has been characterised by extreme weather across the world. Protecting the Amazon rainforest – one of the largest carbon reservoirs on our planet – is critical to helping regulate global climate patterns. Its destruction releases the stored carbon into the atmosphere as ‘greenhouse gas’, which contributes to climate change.
“The approach to reducing deforestation involves a combination of sophisticated monitoring systems, strong policy, and lots of command and control,” said Francisco Oliveira Filho. As a director at the Brazilian Government’s Ministry of the Environment, Filho is responsible for overseeing the strategy to reduce illegal deforestation of the Amazon. He leads a team of 28 staff in implementing an action plan that has global consequences.
As testament to their efforts, the Brazilian Government recently announced that deforestation in the Amazon has been reduced to a record low of 4,656km2 in 2012, in line with its National Policy on Climate Change. But a continued improvement to meet the commitment of an 80% reduction from 2004 still presents an enormous challenge.
“Our integrated approach has allowed us to achieve a really impressive reduction in deforestation. We are very close to meeting Brazil’s commitments, but achieving the last small reduction is the hardest,” said Filho.
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Image: Amazon rainforest
Credit: Dallas Krentzel on flikr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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