Amidst the vast green landscape of the world’s largest rainforest, the construction site of a hydroelectric dam stands out along a tributary to the mighty Amazon River.
The region contains some 12 percent of the planet's fresh water, is a major source of oxygen and is home to a huge variety of plant and animal species. But parts of the jungle are being eaten away at, not only by infrastructure projects but also by mining, logging, and agriculture.
23 Sep 2013 . Novo Progresso, Brazil. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Smoke billows around the silhouette of single tree as an area of the Amazon rainforest is burnt to clear land for farming.
Initial data from Brazil's space agency suggests that destruction of the vast jungle spiked by more than a third over the past year, wiping out an area over twice the size of the city of Los Angeles.
The figures, if borne out by follow-up data, would mean a reversal of years of steady gains against Amazon deforestation.
24 Sep 2013 . Novo Progresso, Brazil. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Deforestation can be highly profitable for those involved.
Loggers will pay a “ribeirinho,” or forest dweller, the initial sum of $75 to find and cut an average ipe – the yellow tree pictured here standing out among the greenery.
But once cut, dragged to a sawmill, and sawn into boards, that single tree will be sold, before even leaving the forest, for upwards of $50,000 to be exported overseas.
20 Apr 2013 . SANTAREM, Brazil. REUTERS/Nacho Doce
As Brazil became an agricultural powerhouse over the past decades, farming has been another factor driving deforestation.
Soybean growers, cattle ranchers and others increasingly farmed cleared woodland, creating areas like this wheat plantation, which once used to be virgin forest.
25 Sep 2013 . NOVA ESPERANCA DO PIRIA, Brazil. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Action has been taken against deforestation, and over a year ago it stood at a record low.
This picture shows part of an operation to crack down on illegal sawmills, haulers and loggers, undertaken with the help of Brazilian soldiers, one of whom guards a yard filled with unlawfully felled trees as a group of children look on.
Now, however, preliminary data suggests that the destruction of the forest is on the rise again and progress against deforestation could be seeing a reversal.