Brazilian Amazon: A Rain Forest Imperiled

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

10/18/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

No less a source than the New York Times recently editorialized that

Brazil, the United States and Asia's forested nations "must abandon

the view that the rain forest is only a commodity to be exploited for

private gain." A number of additional interesting points are made,

including calls for Brazil to demarcate, and thus protect, more

indigenous lands, calls for a zoning system to be established, and for

sustainable logging practices to be pursued. The need for a

"muscular" environmental protection agency in Brazil is noted.

g.b.

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Title: A Rain Forest Imperiled

Source: New York Times

Date: 10/15/97

Byline: Editorial

The issue that most Americans identify with Brazil -- the destruction

of the Amazon rain forest -- did not occupy a prominent role in the

talks between President Clinton and Brazil's President, Fernando

Henrique Cardoso. The issue deserved better, though neither man is

comfortable with the subject. Washington still subsidizes logging in

America's temperate rain forests. Brazil has abandoned some of its

worst policies in the Amazon, yet it is not enforcing its laws and

seems oblivious to a range of new and insidious threats from timber

and agricultural interests.

The state of the world's rain forests is particularly distressing now

that global warming has again become a major international concern.

Growing forests help absorb the gases that warm the atmosphere.

Burning those forests, of course, adds to the problem.

More of Brazil is on fire right now than ever before. The fires are

not as widespread as they are in Indonesia, where smoke has spread to

neighboring nations, nor is commercial logging the main culprit.

Brazil's fires are largely the handiwork of agricultural interests

that clear land for cattle ranching, with a modest assist provided by

subsistence farmers who engage in small-scale slash-and-burn tactics.

This year, cities like Manaus that have gone unscathed in the past

have been blanketed with smoke. Manaus has also reported a 40 percent

increase in respiratory illnesses.

The fires are increasing despite Brazil's efforts in the past few

years to protect the forest. The Government ended its ruinous

subsidies to the cattle ranchers, and now requires that settlers keep

80 percent of their land forested. Brazil has also set aside about 20

percent of the forest as parks, protected areas and indigenous

reserves.

But the ranchers keep on burning, and the laws are not enforced.

Brazil's environmental protection agency has only about 80 enforcement

officers in the whole of the Amazon. Worse, Brazil's courts have ruled

that the agency does not have the authority to enforce the law, which

means that it cannot even collect the fines it levies.

A bill giving the agency authority to punish environmental criminals

has passed the senate and is now before Brazil's lower house. It is a

bill the Amazon obviously needs.

Tough enforcement is especially important now. There could be a major

drought this year or next, leading to widespread fires, if the

climate-altering weather pattern known as El Nino strikes as expected.

A graver danger may come from industrial interests. President Cardoso

favors cutting roads and blasting waterways through large swaths of

the forest. This could provide a new transportation network for big

farmers who want to clear land to grow soybeans for export to Europe.

New roads could also lead to increased logging. Already companies from

Malaysia, China, Korea and other nations, many of which use

clearcutting in Asia, are beginning to log part of the forest. As

these companies pave roads deeper into the jungle, cattle ranchers may

follow. The roads may make clearcutting economically viable and tempt

Brazil to sell off the rain forest for hard currency.

Although a muscular environmental agency is Brazil's most pressing

need, it is not the only one. If Brazil goes ahead with the plan to

improve Amazon transportation, it must simultaneously address

environmental concerns and earmark more land for conservation. A

worthy program to set aside indigenous areas, which both preserves the

forests and protects Indian tribes, is only half-completed. Brazil

must finish the job, which would protect 10 percent more of the

Amazon.

The country also needs to develop zoning laws for the forests and to

adopt sustainable logging practices. More broadly, Brazil, like the

United States and Asia's forested nations, must abandon the view that

the rain forest is only a commodity to be exploited for private gain.

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