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WORLDWIDE BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS

Brazil: Environmentalists Launch Atlantic Forests Campaign

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

March 19, 1995

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

The following press release documents recent moves by the

Brazilian Federal Government to weaken protection of the Atlantic

Rainforest. In a press conference, the best known Brazilian

environmentalists announced a campaign to insure that

international agreements relating to Atlantic Forest protection

are adhered to.

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/** biodiversity: 746.0 **/

** Topic: BRAZILIAN ATLANTIC FORESUNDER AT **

** Written 8:33 AM Mar 8, 1995 by ax:foeamazonia in

cdp:biodiversity **

PRESS RELEASE

BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE ATLANTIC RAINFOREST:

SAO PAULO ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY, MAJOR NGOs LAUNCH CAMPAIGN

Sao Paulo, March 8, 1995

The Secretary for the Environment of the State of Sao Paulo, Fabio

Feldmann, along with major Brazilian and international

environmental NGOs, denounced today that the Brazilian Federal

Government is violating Decree 750/93 for the protection of the

Atlantic Rainforest. In a press conference, the best known

Brazilian environmentalists pointed at the federal environmental

agency (IBAMA) as responsible for actively promoting disrespect

for the legislation.

The regulation was issued in 1993 by President Itamar Franco and

is considered one of the main and most advanced instruments for

the protection of the environment in Brazil. It is the result of

a broad consultation process involving the public and constitutes

the legal basis for several international agreements negotiated by

Brazil, such as the Pilot Program for the Brazilian Rainforests,

the Biodiversity Convention and the Biosphere Reserve of the

Atlantic Rainforest, recognised by UNESCO. The National Council

for the Environment (CONAMA), highest body of the National

Environment System, also endorsed the decree by laying down the

conditions for its implementation and adapting it to the specific

local situations of those 16 states where the atlantic forest

ecosystem occurs.

Outgoing IBAMA President Ms. Nilde Lago Pinheiro took office over

one year ago and became known, along with then Minister Henrique

Brandao Cavalcante, for various controversial decisions,

criticised by the scientific and environmental communities. She

openly obstructed any measure to limit the extraction and the

illegal trade of mahogany, as well as issued a decree modifying

the 1965 Forestry Code, with the aim of eliminating the

Environmental Impact Assesment for logging projects below ha.

2,000.

During the current Administration headed by President Fernando

Henrique Cardoso, due to the lack of clear environmental policies

and strong leadership in the environmental sector, the Presidency

of IBAMA has gone beyond these measures and has started to

actively promote disrespect to existing legislation. Through a

letter to the state-level Superintendencies of IBAMA it ordered,

with an act which is out of its competence, not to enforce the

Decree on the Atlantic Rainforest, defined as agaist the

Constitution. Her legal arguments, once used by the

representatives of the timber companies, already proved

unsuccessful in Court. Mr. Feldmann declared that the State of Sao

Paulo will continue to enforce the decree.

Paradoxically, Mrs Nilde Lago Pinheiro was today rewarded by being

appointed new Head of IBAMA in Sao Paulo, as well as the former

Minister Henrique Brandao Cavalcante, co-responsible for the

aforementioned weakening of the Forestry Code, is being nominated

by the Government as candidate to chair the United Nations'

Commission for Sustainable Development.

Environmentalists expressed deep concern for these facts and

launched today a national campaign to support the Atlantic Forest

regulation. Organisations which have already accepted the

invitation of Secretary Fabio Feldmann include Friends of the

Earth International, Conservation International, Instituto

Socioambiental, Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlantica, SOS Mata

Atlantica, Vitae Civilis and WWF.

Interested organisations and individuals are asked to send faxes

to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, manifesting concern over

the environmental policy of the federal Government and asking for

respect of legislation to protect the Atlantic Rainforest. (FAX

number is 55.61.224-0289).

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You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal

campaign use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and

forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate, timely

pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest

Conservation Archives at URL=

http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html

Networked by:

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Email (best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org

Phone->(608) 233-2194 || Fax->(608) 231-2312