An end to selective tracking

More bad environmental news, this time from CBC: for all the attention given to the problem of Amazon deforestation, the actual damage is twice as bad as previously estimated:

The area of land cleared of trees in the Amazon is twice the estimate, according to a new study of the environmental damage from previously undetected logging...

Using new high-resolution satellite imaging techniques, researchers at the Carnegie Institution of Washington have detected openings in the forest canopy down to one tree.

Once selective logging is taken into account, the deforested area is estimated to be 60 per cent to 128 per cent larger than the official records for 1999 and 2002.

It definitely helps to have a better idea of the extent of the deforestation. The question now is whether any meaningful action will be taken in response. The researchers have provided the data to the Brazilian government in hopes that they'll be better able to fight against illegal logging as a result...but unfortunately more reason to fight a problem doesn't necessarily equate to more resources for the task.