The Lula government is currently restructuring plans to combat loss of Amazon forest by, among other things, giving Brazil’s environmental agency IBAMA $7 million additional funding to monitor illegal deforestation in fragile areas. The increase in deforestation is attributed to the expanding soy farming industry, as well as poorer enforcement measures. Burning and cutting associated with soy farming, logging, cattle, and other industries has cut the Amazon rainforest by 16%, or 245,000 square miles (630,000 sq kilometers).
