Brazil's environment minister Izabella Teixeira has vowed to crack down harder on loggers clearing trees in the Amazon rainforest, after a sudden rise in deforestation. On 18 May, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released satellite data recording that 593 square kilometres of forest had been cleared in March and April, a 473% increase over the 103.5 square kilometres cut down in the same period last year. Much of the clearing occurred in the state of Mato Grosso (pictured, in 2008), where soya-bean farming is common. At a crisis meeting, Teixeira said it was too early to tell whether the surge related to anticipated changes in legislation governing forest preservation, as environmentalists claim.
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