Brazil Could Roll Back Rainforest Protection
12/6/99
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Title: BRAZIL COULD ROLL BACK RAINFOREST PROTECTION
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 is
considering a new Forestry Code that environmentalists warn will
encourage deforestation and threaten the nation's biodiversity. An
effort to pass the law Wednesday was hold off only by quick action
from Brazilian environmental organizations and Senator Marina Silva.
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. Analuce Freitas of WWF Brazil said, "To approve a law
which encourages the destruction of forests is equivalent to
impoverishing the country and to work against its survival."