Global issues closer to home than we think

THE latest figures show the rate of forest clearance in the Amazon last year was the second highest on record.

The loss was equivalent to the size of Belgium. A further distressing statistic shows that, since 1997, up to 69,172 sq miles of rainforest have disappeared in Brazil, an area equivalent to 78% of the size of Britain.

In 1997, the amount of forest lost was just over 5,000 sq miles against 10,088 sq miles in 2004.