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Alarm bells are ringing in Brasilia as the Amazon region, the world’s biggest rainforest and ecosystem is losing its forest cover at much faster rate than the planet can afford. Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region rose by 28 per cent over the past year, said Environment Minister Ms Izabella Teixeira as she called an emergency meeting to stop the process that could have disastrous consequences for the Earth’s climate. “We confirm a 28 per cent increase in the rate of deforestation, reaching 5,843 sq km,” said Ms. Teixeira, quoting provisional statistics for August 2012 to July 2013. Blaming extensive farming and soyabean production in the northern state of Para and the central-western state of Mato Grosso for the fast depleting forest cover, she said the rate of deforestation in the two Amazonian states was as high as 37 and 52 per cent respectively.