Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil said it will slash the annual loss of Amazonian rainforest by more than half and clamp down on illegal logging by adding 3,000 officers to help combat climate change.

Latin America’s biggest country pledged to reduce the deforestation loss from almost 12,000 square kilometers (4,600 square miles) in the 12 months through July to 5,000 square kilometers a year by 2017, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said.

Minc’s announcement in Brasilia occurred three days after Brazil said deforestation in the Amazon region, the world’s biggest rainforest, from logging and slash-and-burn agriculture increased this year for the first time since 2004. Surging prices for cattle and soybeans have prompted ranchers to seek more lands deeper in the forest.

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has tightened rules against illegal logging since December after figures signaled deforestation was rising at a time warming weather was being blamed on higher greenhouse gases, including from burning forests.

“Brazil is already doing its part to mitigate climate change and is determined to do more,” the government said today in summarizing the deforestation plan.

Lula’s plan to tackle climate change is welcome though “far from enough,” said Roberto Smeraldi, director of the NGO Amigos da Terra. More is needed to deal with the environmental challenges faced by Brazil and its 190 million residents, he said in Brasilia.

Five Times Belgium

The Amazon rainforest lost an area about 10 times the size of New York City in the 12 months through July, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research said on Nov. 28.

The world’s largest rainforest may lose about 150,000 square kilometers, an area equivalent to about five times the size of Belgium, between 2004 and 2017, according to the latest government estimates.

“To allow 150,000 square kilometers of deforestation doesn’t seem reasonable; to leave the Brazilian savannah outside of the plan isn’t reasonable” as well, Smeraldi said during the presentation of the plan in the Presidential Palace.

The target to reduce by more than half the deforestation in the Amazon basin is part of Brazil’s National Climate Change Plan, which seeks to cut its overall emission of greenhouse gases.

The government, for instance, plans to replace 10 million refrigerators with new, more efficient ones in the next 10 years to cut the emissions equivalent of 3 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The plan also seeks to double the reforested areas to 11 million hectares by 2020.

“This means that by 2015 we will be planting more trees than cutting,” Minc said.

The minister also said he is in talks with the Finance Ministry to cut taxes for environmentally-friendly products.

“We want to stimulate the adoption of technology that can help cut the emission of greenhouse gases,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andre Soliani in Brasilia at asoliani@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 1, 2008 13:43 EST