Last gasp for the forest

摘要

In the south-eastern comer of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, in the municipality of Novo Aripuana, there is thick forest cover-for now. But as new, paved highways are driven into the trees, illegal loggers inevitably follow. At the current rate of deforestation, around one-third of the forest in Amazonas will have been lost by 2050, releasing a colossal 3.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.