Brazil Forestry Code Vote Pending
12/6/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
The battle for the Amazon, ultimately one of the critical battles for
global ecological sustainability, continues apace. The Brazilian
government is poised to introduce a shoddy new forestry code that
will encourage deforestation. We must remain ever vigilante, as we
advocate for policies which maintain global ecological processes
while meeting human needs.
g.b.
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Title: BRAZIL Forestry Code Vote Pending
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 6, 1999
BRASILIA, Brazil, December 6, 1999 (ENS) - The Brazilian government
will vote Wednesday on a new Forestry Code that environmentalists
warn will encourage deforestation and threaten the nation's
biodiversity.
Brazil ranks third in the world among the countries with the greatest
amount of natural forests and contains one third of the world's
remaining rainforests. The draft law would replace the country's
Provisional Act of 1885.
"If this law passes, it will change the entire environmental legal
framework and expose all remaining Brazilian forests to massive
deforestation, as it prioritizes land conversion into agriculture
above all," said Robert Buschbacher, WWF Brazil conservation
director.
The proposal for the new Forestry Code was the result of heavy
lobbying done by the National Council for Agriculture (CNA), a
farmer's organization, without the participation of the broader civil
society, said the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Brazil.
The new code contains these key measures:
Economic exploitation of forests would be allowed in permanently
protected areas.
Conversion of native forests into agricultural land on some
properties would be permitted without the need of a license from
environmental authorities.
The maintenance of legal reserves of native forests would no longer
be required in properties up to 20 hectares (49 acres).
The inclusion of reforestation with eucalyptus and pines, among other
species, will be allowed in the computation of legal reserves in
small rural properties in the Amazon rainforest and in the Brazilian
savanna areas. Today only native forests count for that purpose.
The special Congressional Commission set up to address the issue is
dominated by rural representatives. The Commission has tried to pass
the bill twice since November 23 but failed due to the strong public
reaction led by environmental non-governmental organizations,
including WWF.
Minister of Environment Jos, Sarney Filho did not take part in the
negotiations over the new Forestry Code. According to representatives
of the National Council for Agriculture, the Brazilian government
accepted the draft law presented because of previous "political
commitments."
"This effort disregards the Technical Chamber of CONAMA, which was
created to review the Forestry Code dating from 1965 and which was
the result of a negotiation with the Ministry of the Environment to
assure the democratic participation of all sectors from Brazilian
society in this process," said Analuce Freitas of WWF Brazil.
CONAMA is the National Council for the Environment, the top
organization in the environment system in Brazil, which includes
representatives from the civil society, businessmen, and the
government.
"To approve a law which encourages the destruction of forests is
equivalent to impoverishing the country and to work against its
survival," said Freitas.