New imaging techniques reveal greater Amazon logging.

• Author: Mastny, Lisa
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE - Brief Article

Last August, the Brazilian government announced that rates of Amazon deforestation had declined by as much as 50 percent in 2005, largely because of stricter protection policies. But a new study by researchers from Stanford University suggests that such proclamations of progress may be based on incomplete measurements. The study, published in the October 21 issue of Science, relies on higher-resolution satellite analysis to conclude that the Brazilian Amazon is in fact being logged at more than twice the rate previously thought.

While traditional satellite analysis of deforestation typically measures only areas of highly visible clear-cutting, the Stanford analysis incorporates an additional critical variable: forest loss in areas that have been selectively logged for high-value timber species, like mahogany. Forest cover in these areas may appear to be intact, says Greg Asner, lead researcher for the study, but the "swiss-cheesing" of the canopy can in fact significantly...