MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

One out of five trees lost in Amazon are from protected areas

One of each five timbered trees in the Brazilian Amazon belongs to government protected areas according to a report published on Sunday by O' Globo.

Apparently 2% of deforestation last year was in Indigenous reservations o preserved areas, says O' Globo adding that the information was collected from Brazil's Environmental Office, Ibama, appealing to satellite photos. "It's a terrible number, it is horrendous", said Carlos Minc, Environment Secretary, who added that "it's not enough to create an area in maps, on paper to guarantee the conservation of the rainforest". The report which has not been officially presented by the Brazilian government shows deforestation in the protected areas increased 6.4% since 2006, while overall illegal timbering has decreased 20%, "a figure which needs to be praised". Last June Brazilian president Lula da Silva created three natural reserves in the Amazon: a national park where tree cutting and building is entirely banned and two other reserves in which local communities can harvest rubber, nuts and fruit as long as they preserve the rainforest. Minister Minc advanced that to solve the problem in reservations and government protected areas new measures would be announced in the coming weeks, including contracting 120 experts for the protected areas. The Amazon covers an area of 6.2 million square kilometers, 63% of which in Brazilian territory, but approximately 20% of that original rain forest area has been lost to farmers, wood merchants and real estate contractors.