Can cattle ranchers and soy farmers save the Amazon?
An Interview with John Cain Carter: Rhett A Butler, mongabay.com June 7, 2007 The key to making conservation successful is making it profitable. John Carter may hold that key. GA_googleFillSlot(“news_300x250_atf_premium”); Since the early 1970s, environmental groups have spent billions of dollars on conservation efforts in the Amazon, but have failed to slow the destruction of its rainforests – the Brazilian Amazon has lost more than 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 square miles) of forest in that time. As donor dollars poured into the region, deforestation rates continued to climb, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 sq mi) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004, before falling sharply in 2005 and 2006 due to declining commodity prices. To many, it’s become apparent that the market, not conservation measures, will determine the fate of the Amazon. The reasons for land-clearing in the Amazon are compelling: cheap land, low labor costs, and booming demand for commodities driven
