Amazon rainforest reaches the area and so the lower the yield per hectare becomes. So despite the popular perception, there has been no economical advantage for Brazil from logging rainforest zones and converting these to pastoral fields. The needs of soy farmers have been used to justify many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon. The first two highways successfully opened up the rainforest and led to increased settlement and deforestation. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 ( per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years ( per year). Although deforestation
Rainforest of the Austrians was honoured with the prestigious 'Binding Environmental Prize' in Liechtenstein. The Naturhistorisches Museum displayed a special exhibition of the project. The ORF showed a documentation about it in the television program 'Universum'. Rainforest of the Austrians Rainforest of the Austrians is an environment protection project was founded by Michael Schnitzler, an Austrian violinist and grandson of the poet Arthur Schnitzler, as a non-profit organization. Its goal is raising funds to buy properties in the Esquinas Rainforest which is 146.7 square kilometres big and located in the south of Costa Rica. These properties become part of the Piedras Blancas National Park.