Brazil says Amazon deforestation rose 28% in a year

Brazil says the rate of deforestation in the Amazon increased by 28% between August 2012 and last July, after years of decline. The government is working to reverse this "crime", Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said. Activists have blamed the increase in destruction on a controversial reform to Brazil's forest protection law. Last year Brazil reported the lowest rate of deforestation in the Amazon since monitoring began. The provisional statistics from August 2012 to last July suggest that the area suffering deforestation was 5,843 sq km (2,255 sq miles), compared to 4,571 sq km (1,765 sq miles) in the previous 12 months. The 28% rise interrupts a period of declining deforestation which began in 2009. However, it still remains the second lowest annual figure for forest loss in absolute terms. The worst year on record was 2004, when 27,000 sq km of forest was destroyed. Monthly data from several scientific institutions had suggested the deforestation rate might be on the rise.

Nicaragua cloud forest 'under siege' by illegal loggers. Bosawas forest - the Bosawas Reserve is a critically important rainforest but native people say it is being destroyed by "colonists" A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders. The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain. But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists". They are calling on US president Barack Obama, who is visiting the region, to support their battle. Described by the United Nations as a global biological treasure, the reserve is located on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras and teems with wildlife. “We believe that if there is no intervention there will be no Biosphere Reserve in five to 10 years” Taymond Robins, Mayangna people The two million hectares are said to be home to 150,000 insect species, rare jaguars, eagles and crocodiles as well as the world's last populations of Baird's Tapir and the Central American Spider Monkey. Landless invaders The Bosawas reserve also overlaps the homes of indigenous communities who have been there for centuries, living by hunting and fishing. The Nicaraguan government recognised the full legal title of the Mayangna to their lands in 2007. Since then, they say they have been subject to what they term an "invasion" by landless people from other parts of the country.

Global alliance aims to tackle forest crime

Illegal logging damages biodiversity and undermines people's livelihoods.

Interpol and the United Nations have joined forces to launch an initiative to tackle global forest crime.