Today, I will introduce Maplecroft, who is the author of the Deforestation Index 2012, from their website:

Introducing Maplecroft

As the global landscape evolves, it is imperative to navigate, manage and monitor the political, economic, social and environmental risks that affect new growth opportunities for business, especially in emerging markets.

Maplecroft’s Global Risks Portfolio and services combine rigorous research with technological innovation to offer risk screens, monitoring tools and invaluable insights into the most challenging political, economic, social and environmental risks and responsibilities facing global business today.

Our products and services are used extensively by leading global corporations across all sectors, governments, UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations. For example, banks use our indices and in depth reports to screen and manage risk, corporations use our research to understand investment risk and supply chain managers use our tools for due diligence monitoring.

This chart is a collage from the original that can be found in the link, below.

The Deforestation Index, released by risk analysis and mapping company Maplecroft, states that economic growth, poverty, corruption and the rise of biofuels are among the major causes of deforestation in nine countries which have been classified as ‘extreme risk.’ These include Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil, as well as Bolivia, Cambodia, DR Congo, Nicaragua, North Korea and Papua New Guinea.

http://maplecroft.com/about/news/deforestation.html

People who live in Santa Cruz city can tell you how smoke covers the city, making it impossible to breathe; unlike five years ago…

At the rate we are going, there isn’t much going to be left. Absurd slush & burn practices need to change among farmers. And for those burning to take over national parks and/or private land, law must come on them hard; high penalty fees and imprisonment must be enforced. We cannot expect central government to do any better, it is within each Bolivian department to have a better control on fires.

It is pitiful to see our amazon with mostly “high to extreme risk” deforestation reality…