Amazon deforestation up to make way for cattle and soy

THE rate of Amazon deforestation rose sharply during the last five months of 2007 as land was cleared for soy and cattle, prompting a top-level emergency meeting yesterday by government officials to deal with the problem.

Environment Minister Marina Silva and other ministers headed to the presidential palace yesterday morning to meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after the report on deforestation was issued Wednesday.

Silva’s ministry said 1,287 square miles of rain forest were cleared from August through December, a big increase from the same period a year earlier.