History 

         http://www.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/extent-of-deforestation-in-borneo-1950-2005-and-projection-towards-2020_119c
     
        Currently comprising approximately 1.6 billion acres of land, the Amazon Rainforest has already suffered a loss of 58 million acres. Since the time European colonization began (450 years ago), the last 40 years have been the most detrimental with a reduction of nearly 20%. A majority of this reduction is due to deforestation. During the 1970s Brazil's military dictatorship implemented a policy that promoted destruction of the Amazon in favor of economic benefits. The policy nicknamed "integrar para nao entregar," or "occupy it or risk losing it," distributed land among citizens and encouraged logging, ranching, and other industrial uses. The punishments for not using the land effectively were harsh; if there was no productive land activity within five years, the government reclaimed the land. Brazil's environmentally harmful stance on the Amazon in the 1970s began the controversy over destroying rainforest land for economically beneficial industrial uses versus conserving it for environmental purposes.