Brazilian Amazon: A Rain Forest Imperiled
10/18/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
No less a source than the New York Times recently editorialized that
Brazil, the United States and Asia's forested nations "must abandon
the view that the rain forest is only a commodity to be exploited for
private gain." A number of additional interesting points are made,
including calls for Brazil to demarcate, and thus protect, more
indigenous lands, calls for a zoning system to be established, and for
sustainable logging practices to be pursued. The need for a
"muscular" environmental protection agency in Brazil is noted.
g.b.
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Title: A Rain Forest Imperiled
Source: New York Times
Status: Copyright 1997, New York Times, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/15/97
Byline: Editorial
The issue that most Americans identify with Brazil -- the destruction
of the Amazon rain forest -- did not occupy a prominent role in the
talks between President Clinton and Brazil's President, Fernando
Henrique Cardoso. The issue deserved better, though neither man is
comfortable with the subject. Washington still subsidizes logging in
America's temperate rain forests. Brazil has abandoned some of its
worst policies in the Amazon, yet it is not enforcing its laws and
seems oblivious to a range of new and insidious threats from timber
and agricultural interests.
The state of the world's rain forests is particularly distressing now
that global warming has again become a major international concern.
Growing forests help absorb the gases that warm the atmosphere.
Burning those forests, of course, adds to the problem.
More of Brazil is on fire right now than ever before. The fires are
not as widespread as they are in Indonesia, where smoke has spread to
neighboring nations, nor is commercial logging the main culprit.
Brazil's fires are largely the handiwork of agricultural interests
that clear land for cattle ranching, with a modest assist provided by
subsistence farmers who engage in small-scale slash-and-burn tactics.
This year, cities like Manaus that have gone unscathed in the past
have been blanketed with smoke. Manaus has also reported a 40 percent
increase in respiratory illnesses.
The fires are increasing despite Brazil's efforts in the past few
years to protect the forest. The Government ended its ruinous
subsidies to the cattle ranchers, and now requires that settlers keep
80 percent of their land forested. Brazil has also set aside about 20
percent of the forest as parks, protected areas and indigenous
reserves.
But the ranchers keep on burning, and the laws are not enforced.
Brazil's environmental protection agency has only about 80 enforcement
officers in the whole of the Amazon. Worse, Brazil's courts have ruled
that the agency does not have the authority to enforce the law, which
means that it cannot even collect the fines it levies.
A bill giving the agency authority to punish environmental criminals
has passed the senate and is now before Brazil's lower house. It is a
bill the Amazon obviously needs.
Tough enforcement is especially important now. There could be a major
drought this year or next, leading to widespread fires, if the
climate-altering weather pattern known as El Nino strikes as expected.
A graver danger may come from industrial interests. President Cardoso
favors cutting roads and blasting waterways through large swaths of
the forest. This could provide a new transportation network for big
farmers who want to clear land to grow soybeans for export to Europe.
New roads could also lead to increased logging. Already companies from
Malaysia, China, Korea and other nations, many of which use
clearcutting in Asia, are beginning to log part of the forest. As
these companies pave roads deeper into the jungle, cattle ranchers may
follow. The roads may make clearcutting economically viable and tempt
Brazil to sell off the rain forest for hard currency.
Although a muscular environmental agency is Brazil's most pressing
need, it is not the only one. If Brazil goes ahead with the plan to
improve Amazon transportation, it must simultaneously address
environmental concerns and earmark more land for conservation. A
worthy program to set aside indigenous areas, which both preserves the
forests and protects Indian tribes, is only half-completed. Brazil
must finish the job, which would protect 10 percent more of the
Amazon.
The country also needs to develop zoning laws for the forests and to
adopt sustainable logging practices. More broadly, Brazil, like the
United States and Asia's forested nations, must abandon the view that
the rain forest is only a commodity to be exploited for private gain.