It makes sense to support a census of sorts for all the forests in Brazil when one takes into account that they occupy around 516 hectares of land, which translates to 60% of the nation’s total land mass. The Brazilian Ministry of the Environment announced on December 16th an important new plan to expand the data collection on the nation’s many forests. Currently the only comprehensive data relies heavily on satellite photography and has very little on-the-ground analysis. According to the ministry this new inventory will analyze not just the quantity but the quality of all the forest regions in the country. This entails measuring the health of the vegetation throughout 20 thousand different locations around the country! Many educational institutions like the Federal University of Brasilia will be involved in this research. Some of the data to be collected will comprise of “number, height, diameter and species of trees as well as soil type, carbon stock and biomass.” According to Minister of the Environment Izabella Teixeira, who has led the ministry since April 2010, the government does not have sufficient qualitative data. Thus, the purpose of the program is to expand the information pool in order to provide accurate scientific data to inform policy domestically and abroad in the many multilateral organization’s Brazil is a part of .
In addition, the ministry is calling for a socio-environmental analysis that will study the interaction between population and the environment throughout these forest regions.

Source: http://www.mma.gov.br/sitio/index.php?ido=ascom.noticiaMMA&idEstrutura=8&codigo=6412