by Allanah Leahy – EM TV Online
Last week Tuesday, international media agency Reuters reported the Brazilian government’s moves to safeguard an environmentally rich area of the Amazon rainforest under federal protection.
The reserved sect of the rainforest is called Alto Maues and encompasses 6,680 square kilometres of largely untouched forests that are not known insofar to have human presence, according to the Brazilian Environment Ministry.
The declaration of a federal reserve forbids forest clearing and other developments and has been received keenly by environmental groups.
“This is essential to protect unique Amazon species, such as some types of primates,” said conservationist Mauro Armelin, working for the local office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The move aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which come from deforestation; as explained by Epoch Times, the carbon released from deforestation is carbon that had been previously contained by trees.
The Epoch Times further details a report from Science earlier this year recording a 3.2 billion ton reduction in carbon emissions in result of a 70 per cent drop in deforestation over the past decade.
The Brazilian government has combated deforestation with the use of federal protection laws among other methods in line with its climate policy.
