***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Brazil
Announces Moratorium on Mahogany Logging & Agricultural
Deforestation
Restrictions
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
7/28/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
In a
major victory for rainforest campaign efforts, and in an apparent
attempt
to rejuvenate its environmental image, the Brazilian government has
announced
a two year moratorium on mahogany logging.
"The international
market
for mahogany is the driving force behind massive deforestation and
colonisation
which is opening up vast areas of untouched Amazonian
rainforest..." In another new environmental initiative, the
Brazilian
government
announced legal restrictions on the amounts of deforestation
allowed
in agricultural areas in the Amazon. Following are two press
releases
posted in econet's gp.press which provide additional details, and
typically
claim most of the credit for Greenpeace.
Noting Greenpeace's
contributions,
we know that the call for a moratorium on mahogany has been
a major
rallying point for the rainforest movement, and the dozens of
groups
working on this issue in Brazil and internationally, we all deserve
our
due.
g.b.
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press:
132.0 **/
**
Topic: 7/26 GP Welcomes Brazilian Moratori **
**
Written 4:35 PM Jul 27, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in
cdp:gp.press
*
*
Subject:
7/26 GP Welcomes Brazilian Moratorium on Mahogany
Date:
Sat, 27 JUL 96 19:41:54 GMT
----------
Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
----------
Greenpeace
Welcomes Brazilian Moratorium on Mahogany
Press
Release-Amsterdam, July 26, 1996 (GP) Greenpeace today claimed a
major
victory in the campaign to preserve one of the world's great forests
-- the
Amazon -- with the news that the Brazilian President has signed a
two
year moratorium on mahogany logging.
"This
is a major step forward," said Tim Birch, Greenpeace International
Forest
Campaigner. "We have been campaigning for a moratorium on mahogany
in
Brazil for more than three years."
The
international market for mahogany is the driving force behind massive
deforestation
and colonisation which is opening up vast areas of untouched
Amazonian
rainforest, one of the most important and threatened ecosystems
on the
planet.
Greenpeace
will now be trying to ensure that the moratorium -- which still
has to
be approved by the Brazilian Congress -- is properly implemented and
enforced.
The moratorium was agreed by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
and
follows the release of new data showing an increase in the rate of
deforestation
in the Amazon region.
In
another significant step welcomed by Greenpeace, the president has also
announced
a ban on increasing deforestation in agricultural areas in the
Amazon.
This measure - if approved by the Brazilian parliament - will limit
the
area liberated for deforestation in forest regions from the current 50
per
cent to 20 per cent.
For
further information contact Tim Birch on 00 44 161 483 9169 (27th
&28th)
or 00 44 1433 651776 or James Gillies on 0031 6 53 23 84 75
(cellular
phone)
NEW
GREENPEACE COMMUNICATIONS ADDRESS:
Keizersgracht
176
1016 DW
AMSTERDAM
THE
NETHERLANDS
ph: 31
(20) 523 6222/ 524 9548 (direct line)
fx: 31
(20) 523 6200
----------
** End
of text from cdp:gp.press **
/**
gp.press: 133.0 **/
**
Topic: 7/26 GP Brazil on Brazilian Mahogan **
**
Written 8:34 PM Jul 27, 1996 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in
cdp:gp.press
*
*
Subject:
7/26 GP Brazil on Brazilian Mahogany Moratorium
Date:
Sat, 27 JUL 96 19:42:16 GMT
----------
Original-TO: World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-TO: The.Greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org
----------
GREENPEACE
BRAZIL ON BRAZILIAN MAHOGANY MORATORIUM
Press
Release-RIO DE JANEIRO 07/26/1996 (GP) The executive director of
Greenpeace
Brazil, Roberto Kishinami, sent today a letter to the Brazilian
President,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, saluting his decision of signing a
decree
determining a two year moratorium in the Mahogany (Swietneia
macrophyla
King.) and Virola (virola surinamensis Warb) logging in
Amazonia.
These species are the most valuable timbers exported by Brazil.
In the
same letter, Kishinami observes that now it is crucial to identify
and
label the existing stocks already cut, and to make an inventory of the
areas
of occurrence of these timbers, in order to guarantee the success of
the
presidential act. "Is very important the involvement of civil society
in the
controlling process", said Kishinami.
Greenpeace
has been campaigning this issue for the last four years - using
direct
actions and political pressure with the help of other NGOs. The
moratorium
is the most important victory in GP Brazil short history.
The
only exception in the decree is the timber from plantations -which
doesn't
exist, in the case of mahogany. The Ministry of Environment and
Legal
Amazonia, and the Brazilian Institute for Environment and Natural
Resources
(IBAMA) have 60 days to identify and cancel all concessions of
irregular
logging companies.
This
means: 1) the Government will not give any new license to explore
Mahogany
and Virola in the next two years; and 2) the companies operating
now
will be submitted to audit - and the one with irregularities will have
their
licenses canceled. The official expectation is that 60% to 70% of the
actual
licenses will be canceled.
In
another decision (a provisory act, which gets immediately into force but
must be
further approved by Brazilian Parliament) the President legally ban
the increase
of deforestation in agricultural areas in the whole "Legal
Amazon"
- which include the states of Amazon, Acre, Para, Roraima, ondonia,
Amapa
and Mato Grosso, and the northern regions of Tocantins, Goias and
Maranhao
states. The act limit to 20% the area freed for agriculture in
forest
regions, against the limit of 50% to date.
According
to IBAMA, US$ 6 million will be spent in the controlling program,
using
650 agents, 120 vehicles, 30 boats and 300 flight hours.
The
presidential decisions were personally communicated to Greenpeace by
the
president of IBAMA, Eduardo Martins. Ibama is the federal agency for
the
environment. "This is a Greenpeace victory", said Mr. Martins during
his
phone call, asking for GP support to convince the Parliament to approve
the
provisional act.
"We
expect an important reaction from logger's lobby, deputies and senators
from
Northern States", said Roberto Kishinami. "To face this upfront and
guarantee
the approval governmental decisions, Greenpeace Brazil is
organizing
a meeting with NGOs to set up a common strategy."
"Both
decisions - the decree and the provisory act - mean a very important
contribution
to our fight to preserve the Amazonian biodiversity", said
Kishinami.
"And can contribute to reduce increasing deforestation in the
region,
which grew from 11,130 square kilometres/year (in 1991) up to
14,896
sq km/year (in 1994). These figures were announced yesterday by
INPE
(National Institute of Space Research). The INPE monitors Amazonian
using
data from the Landsat satellite. According to the Government, the
area
affected by deforestation in the Amazonian region was 470,000 square
kilometres.
"These
numbers show that the authorities failed in controlling
the
destruction", said Kishinami.
===================================================
For
more information, please contact:
Paulo
Adario - phone 55.21.2621282 and fax 55.21.2401690
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