6-mile walkway to deliver spectacular rainforest views

Those on trips to South America could soon have the opportunity to stroll among the treetops of the Amazon Rainforest thanks to a new six-mile walkway being built by a British charity.

The extensive walkways are being constructed as part of the building of a new £6.4 million science centre in Brazil, which will be used as a base for researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Sunday Times reports.

It will also provide jobs for local Brazilian tribes and act as an eco-tourism centre.

Designed by the same architects who created the London Eye and Kew Gardens' treetop walkway, the six-miles of bridges will allow researcher to study the rainforest canopy as well as give visitors the chance to enjoy stunning views from high above the jungle floor.

It is expected that construction of the science centre and walkways will take two years to complete, said the Amazon Charitable Trust, which is coordinating the project.

"It will employ the local river tribe, giving them a way of making a living without destroying the forest, and also boost awareness around the world," Robert Pasley-Tyler, a managing partner of the trust, told the newspaper.

"Visitors will also get to see the nearby pink dolphins and the giant otters before spending a relaxing day on a riverside beach."

The centre is being built in the Roraima region of Brazil - the country's northernmost and least populous state.

It follows the announcement last month that deforestation of the Amazon has fallen to its lowest level since monitoring began in 1988.

According to figures from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, which uses satellite images to track deforestation, between August 2010 and July 2011 the Amazon lost 6,238 square km of rainforest, 11 per cent lower than the 7,000 square km of destruction recorded in 2009-10.