Rainforest loss shocks Brazil

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest last year was the second worst ever, figures released by the Brazilian government have shown. Satellite photos showed more than 10,000 square miles had been felled by ranchers, loggers and especially soy bean farmers.

The figures shocked Brazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, who told delegates to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre earlier this year that she believed that increases in deforestation had been stemmed and that illegal deforestation was under control....