Brazil Relaxes Amazon Deforestation Ban

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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4/9/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

A step forward followed by a step back seems to be the rule in

Brazil's effort to combat Amazonian deforestation, as the recent ban

on deforestation in the Amazon has been relaxed.

g.b.

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Title: Brazil Relaxes Amazon Deforestation Ban

Source: Reuters

Date: March 25, 1999

Byline: By William Schomberg

BRASILIA, March 25 (Reuters) - Brazil relaxed a ban on deforestation

in the Amazon jungle on Thursday but said it would beef up monitoring

of logging companies to enforce widely ignored environmental laws.

New Environment Minister Jose Sarney Filho hit the headlines last

month when he suspended all forest clearings in an attempt to slow

destruction of the world's biggest remaining rainforest.

The controversial move came a day after the government announced a

30 percent increase in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon last

year compared with 1997.

So far, more than 13 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been

completely cleared, equivalent to an area the size of France.

Environmentalists say the full extent of the damage is far greater

when partially logged areas are taken into account.

Representatives of timber companies met with Sarney Filho in Brasilia

on Thursday, part of a new series of talks between the government and

representatives of businessmen and farmers from the Amazon to rethink

development in the region.

The minister agreed to allow logging firms to resume operations and

said an extra 6 million reais ($3.3 million) would be spent on four

helicopters and 400 inspectors on the ground to curb unauthorised

deforestation.

As much as 80 percent of the Amazonian timber trade is illegal, the

government estimated recently.

``For the first time we are starting to move toward a consensus with

the logging industry and that is very important,'' Sarney Filho told

reporters after meeting with the loggers and lawmakers who lobby on

their behalf in Congress.

The government is hoping to persuade the logging industry to stop

relying on full-scale clearing of the forest to get timber and begin

using sustainable techniques instead.

Selective, planned logging accounts for just 10 percent of the Amazon

timber industry, according to official estimates.

Representatives of logging companies were divided about whether

the government's plan would work.

``What's new is they are trying to reward the good companies and

penalise the bad ones,'' said Adalberto Diamante, head of a timber

trade association in Mato Grosso state. Others said they could not

afford the kind of planned forestry measures the government was

pushing.

Earlier this week, the Environment Ministry announced it would

limit small, family-owned farms to clearing a maximum of three

hectares, or seven acres, of rainforest each per year. Settlers are

considered one of the biggest factors behind deforestation in the

Amazon.

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