Brazil Forestry Code Vote Pending

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

12/6/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

The battle for the Amazon, ultimately one of the critical battles for

global ecological sustainability, continues apace. The Brazilian

government is poised to introduce a shoddy new forestry code that

will encourage deforestation. We must remain ever vigilante, as we

advocate for policies which maintain global ecological processes

while meeting human needs.

g.b.

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Title: BRAZIL Forestry Code Vote Pending

Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/

Date: December 6, 1999

BRASILIA, Brazil, December 6, 1999 (ENS) - The Brazilian government

will vote Wednesday on a new Forestry Code that environmentalists

warn will encourage deforestation and threaten the nation's

biodiversity.

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.

Minister of Environment Jos‚ Sarney Filho did not take part in the

negotiations over the new Forestry Code. According to representatives

of the National Council for Agriculture, the Brazilian government

accepted the draft law presented because of previous "political

commitments."

"This effort disregards the Technical Chamber of CONAMA, which was

created to review the Forestry Code dating from 1965 and which was

the result of a negotiation with the Ministry of the Environment to

assure the democratic participation of all sectors from Brazilian

society in this process," said Analuce Freitas of WWF Brazil.

CONAMA is the National Council for the Environment, the top

organization in the environment system in Brazil, which includes

representatives from the civil society, businessmen, and the

government.

"To approve a law which encourages the destruction of forests is

equivalent to impoverishing the country and to work against its

survival," said Freitas.

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