Guayana Shield Amazon Brazil now protected

[ryder]

According to an article I saw recently, a patch of the Amazon rainforest the size of Alabama (!) known as a battleground between environmentalists and loggers/ranchers is now going to be governmentally protected.

Known as the Guayana Shield, the 57,915-square-mile area contains more than 25 percent of the world’s remaining humid tropical forests and the largest remaining unpolluted fresh water reserves in the American tropics.

This is some great news! And the surprising thing is that the news is coming out of Para, which is/was one of the more violent upholders of rancher's/logging rights. Hopefully this will lead to much more of the Amazon and other endangered forests in the world being afforded the chance to survive and flourish.

The new protected areas will help break the power of ranchers who often own plots of land the size of small European nations and rule them as their own personal fiefdoms, said Para state environment secretary Raul Porto.

--Full story--

Thanks for the link, that is good news to read, and hopefully the protection will keep increasing both in scope and in terms of land size.

[jrc]

Kinda weird going from the vegas forum to this thread. You're right, this is great news. Let's hope it sticks and maybe even persuades some other governments (*cough*) to follow their example.