AMAZON DEFORESTATION FROM SPACE

You have probably heard a lot about Amazon deforestation and seen plenty of ugly pictures of logged forest, dam and mining projects, and scorched earth. But the problem is the rate of damage. So much is going so fast, that scientists literally do not know what is being lost. Unknown species are disappearing before their very eyes! The rate of loss is estimated from looking at satellite images of forest cover. Over time scientists can compare how much is present in early images compared with later images. The difference in amount is the rate of loss. From such images it is calculated that in Brazil about 5 to 6 million acres are lost per year (This estimate is averaged for the period 1979-1990, according to figures from the Rainforest Action Network)