New Brazilian Forestry Bill was Postponed Until March
12/8/99
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Title: New Brazilian forestry bill was postponed until March
Source: WWF Press Release
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 8, 1999
As a result of NGOs' action and negative public opinion, the anti-
ecological bill which was to be voted by Congress today was withdrawn
by the federal government after renegotiating with the landowners
Brasilia, Brazil: At the end of a heated session, which was
interrupted and resumed a few hours later, the Congress' Special
Commission created to examine part of the Brazilian Forestry Code
decided, yesterday evening, to accept the Government's request and
postpone the voting of the bill until next March.
The adjournment came in response to the NGOs' mobilization against the
proposal presented by house representative Moacir Micheletto (PMDB
party from the southern state of Paran ), without the participation of
civil society. The SOS Forests Campaign, led by WWF and ISA (Instituto
Socioambiental, a Brazilian NGO), managed to gather in only two days
the support of 189 environmental and social organizations to their
request to postpone the voting.
"Civil society won this battle and the victory belongs to the
Brazilian forests", said Dr. Garo Batmanian, WWF-Brazil's CEO. He also
announced: "We will work together with the government and the
economical sector, including the landowners, to present a consensual
draft which can assure the conservation of natural forests". Adriana
Ramos, from ISA, added: "This was achieved thanks to the effort of
hundreds of people and institutions of all sizes, who were mobilized
extremely fast, and also to the press, who put forth the problem".
Besides the postponement of the bill, CONAMA (the National Council for
the Environment ) must submit an alternative draft to Congress by the
end of February. CONAMA, the top organ in the Brazilian environmental
system, will be responsible for a new draft for articles 2 and 44 of
the bill in question, pertaining to the areas with the highest degree
of protection (APPs), such as those meant to preserve the headwaters
and riversides, and legal reserves. The landowners' proposal
completely reformulated the definition of such protected areas by
reducing their size and allowing them to be economically exploited, as
well as by allowing the substitution of native forests by exotic
species, for example Eucaliptus and Pines, among other negative
measures.
"Sense prevailed", synthesized house representative Jos, Geno-no (the
leader of PT, the Workers' Party, and a member of that Special
Commission). Both Geno-no and Fernando Gabeira (House Representative
of the Green Party) played a key role in keeping the proposal from
being approved by the Commission last night. They managed to
interrupt the work of the Commission for a few hours, during which an
agreement was reached. The meeting began at 5 PM and was adjourned at
6:30 PM. It was resumed at 9 PM, when all Commission members were
already convinced that there was no political support to approve the
text as it was. Had it been approved by the Commission, the proposal
for a new Forestry Code would probably be decided on a single session
in Congress today.
The controversy over the review of the Forestry Code reflects the
division within the Brazilian government in environmental matters: on
one hand, there are the Special Office of the Presidency (Casa Civil)
and Ministry of Agriculture, both of which support the landowners'
proposal; on the other hand there are the Ministry of the Environment
and the Ministry for the Land Reform -- the latter is contrary to the
new bill because it would cause severe environmental impacts and
provoke an average 30% increase in the costs of land expropriation for
settling rural workers and their families, benefitting unproductive
landowners. The lack of coordination in the Forestry Code review
process was responsible for this controversy. A few months ago, the
Ministry of the Environment created a work group within CONAMA
including representatives of the government, landowners and
environmental organizations to review that legislation. However, the
Special Office of the Presidency had already proposed the creation of
the Congress Special Commission to examine the Forestry Code 14 months
ago. This group drafted the bill without the participation of the
CONAMA's Work Group.
For more information, please contact Ulisses Lacava (WWF-Br
Communications Coordinator) or Regina Vasquez (Communications
Officer): tel +55-61-248.2899 and E-mail ulisses@wwf.org.br and
regina@wwf.org.br