VFrom the 325 meter high tower of the ATTO research station, the Amazon rainforest appears intact. The German-Brazilian research facility, which is used to research the atmosphere in the rainforest, opens up a view of the almost endless forest. Deforestation and destruction seem a long way off, yet their consequences can be seen in the data collected from the tower.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke were also able to see this for themselves on Monday. On Sunday evening, after paying their respects to the newly sworn Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the capital, Brasilia, they traveled to Amazonia to see the state of the rainforest for themselves. “It is important to all of us that we preserve the green lungs of the earth, the rainforests of the Amazon,” said Steinmeier.
