In only ten minutes a logger with a chain saw can cut down a thirty-three foot wide, one thousand year old tree. An estimated 10,000,000 to 100,000,000 forms of life exist in the rainforest. Only 1,400,000 species of plants and animals have been identified out of approximately 5,000,000 in the world. A Brazilian sees slashing and burning as a way to live. It is not fair to ask Brazil to bear the financial burden.
Brazil is a developing nation short of cash.
Of the estimated original 4 billion acres of rainforest, only about 2.7 billion remain. The Rainforest Action Network says it is more like 100 acres per minute. The World Resources Institute says 74,000 acres a day are lost and the Smithsonian Institute claims the loss of 100,000 square miles a year. The NewYork Rainforest Alliance reports 50 to 100 acres a minute. At the present, a hundred species disappear each day around the world.