Questão 739295

Text III – items 41 to 46

1____Every year forests four times the size of Switzerland are

lost because of clearing and degradation. In the 1980s, an

average of 38 million acres of tropical forest were destroyed

4 each year, those trends have shown no signs of decreasing in the

1990s. Subsistence farming, unsustainable logging, unsound

development of large-scale industrial projects, and national

7 policies that distort markets and subsidize forest conversion to

other uses are causing deforestation worldwide, from Cambodia

to Colombia, from Cameroon to Western Canada and the

10 Western United States.

The loss of forests has major implications for th e

world. Forests are home to 70 percent of all land-living animals

13 and plants. They replenish the Earth’s atmosphere and provide

the planet with fresh air by storing carbon and producing

oxygen. They help filter pollution out of the water and protect

16 against flooding, mudslides and erosion. Forests provide timber,

medicines, food, and jobs.

The United States has an enormous stake in the

19 sustainable management of the world’s forests. We are a major

forest products importer and exporter. Our growing

pharmaceutical and food processing industries have a vested

22 interest in protecting the source materials for new medicines,

pharmaceuticals, and food additives. Forests and their ability to

absorb carbon dioxide lower the rate of global climate change.

25___The President of the United States has committed to

the goal of achieving sustainable management of our forests by

the year 2004. And the State Department and other agencies

28 have been working closely with our global partners to slow

deforestation around the world.

_{Document from the US State Department (with adaptations).}

In relation to the text above, judge the following items.

In line 6, the word " unsound" means unheard.