I found two articles several years ago about the Amazon rainforest. Their data may now be out of date but the issues remain the same. These are two very different reviews of the same concerns - that we are losing rainforests in South and Central America. The bottom line is, we still don't know how fast the rain forests are being depleted.

Rain Forest Is Losing Ground Faster in Amazon, Photos Show

The New York Times reports that new aerial photos show a 10,000 square mile loss of rain forest in the Amazon over the last 12 months. The Brazilian government claims this is a 40 percent increase in deforestation compared to the last annual survey.

On the other hand,

World's Vegetation is Cleaning More Carbon from Skies

The Christian Science Monitor suggests that two decades of data show that world vegetation, mainly from the Amazon, is trapping more carbon. This is good news because the trapped carbon equates to more trees - and the Amazon accounted for nearly half of the world's increase. Scientists are surprised to see that the rain forest has yet to "bump into limits" on taking in C02.

• More on the Tropical Rainforest
• Importance of the Tropical Rainforest Canopy