Even the government of Brazil seemed shocked by the news that despite efforts to curb deforestation the destruction of the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon, proceeds apace. In the 12-month period 10,000 square miles of forest, an area almost the size of Massachusetts, was destroyed. Most of the Amazon lies in Brazil, but its destruction has been a matter of global concern ever since the 1980’s, when satellite photographs documenting widespread burning of the forest first appeared. Like tropical forests everywhere, the Amazon is a storehouse of biodiversity, a source of medicines and an important antidote to global warming. The struggle to save the Amazon has claim-ed many victims, notably Chico Men-des, an environmentalist shot to death by two ranchers in 1988, and Dorothy Stang, an American-born nun and advocate for the forest and for peasant farmers who was gun-ned down earlier this year. The biggest single threat to the Amazon is the explosive growth of soybean farming in the state of Mato Grosso. There are people in the Brazilian government, who believe there are better ways to assist Brazil’s economy than by turning a valuable rain forest into cattle feed. But they need help which should make sound environmental practices a condition of future investment. — The New York Times