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By Stuart Grudgings BRASILIA (Reuters) - Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged in March and April, the government said on Wednesday, fueling criticism that a proposed law to ease land-use rules may be spurring illegal tree-felling. [More]

Gold-hungry Peruvian miners are eroding the country's portion of the Amazon rainforest at an alarming rate, according to a new study. Small-scale gold panners in the Andean nation have responded to soaring gold prices by revving up the pace of gold mining, stripping the region of its forests.

As worldwide demand for both food and biofuels increases, so does the the demand for palm oil, which can be used for both food and biofuel production. But while biofuels may cut down on CO2 emissions compared to petroleum, palm oil plantations have the nasty effect of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere--and the problem is only getting worse, according to a study from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the National University of Singapore.