URGENT
ACTION ALERT
***********************************************
FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Proposed
Legislation Endangers Brazilian Forests - Vote in a Few Days
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation
Portal
http://forests.org/links/ -- Forest
Conservation Links
08/31/01
TAKE
ACTION:
BRAZILIAN
FORESTS ENDANGERED - Proposal to change the forest
legislation
threatens large ecosystems in Brazil
Background:
http://www.codigoflorestal.com.br/english/index.asp
(click on green PROTESTO box on left to send
protest email, or here
is the actual send alert page:
http://www.codigoflorestal.com.br/english/cyberaction.asp)
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
Forests.org
reported a few days ago that the Brazilian Congress was
soon to
hold a key vote that threatens to significantly reduce
protections
for Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
Agricultural interests
seek to
expand from 20% to 50% the area allowed to be clear-cut in
privately
owned land in the Amazon. They intend
to do so by
modifying
the Forest Code that regulates the protection and use of
all
Brazilian forests, mangroves and grassland ecosystems. The
Brazilian
Congress may vote on this as early as September 4th, only a
few
days from now! This will be the third
attempt since 1999 to
adversely
modify one of the most important laws regarding forest
protection
in Brazil. An earlier effort was
defeated in early 2000
by a
coalition of 260 Brazilian NGOs called the "SOS Forests
Campaign"
(SOS Florestas). Forest
conservationists successfully
maintained
the Forest Code's protections last time around largely
through
a huge email protest campaign that mobilized many thousands
of
emails from within Brazil, but also internationally. SOS
Florestas
has called upon Forests.org's members to help once again
defend
Brazil's rainforests. Please do so as
soon as possible at:
http://www.codigoflorestal.com.br/english/index.asp
(click on green
PROTESTO
box on left).
The
globally significant Amazonian ecosystems are too important to be
turned
into vast agricultural monocultures.
Planetary ecological
sustainability
depends upon defeating this measure.
PLEASE respond
to this
alert as soon as possible - the vote may be in only a few
days. Please forward this alert widely prior to
this time.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: BRAZILIAN FORESTS ENDANGERED - Proposal to
change the forest
legislation threatens large ecosystems in
Brazil
http://www.codigoflorestal.com.br/english/index.asp
Source: SOS Florestas
Date: August, 2001
Since
1999, the Brazilian farmers lobby group - represented by the
National
Confederation of Agriculture (CNA) and led in the Brazilian
Congress
by Representative Moacir Micheletto (from the PMDB party,
elected
by the State of Paran ) - has tried to amend the Brazilian
Forest
Code.
Issued
in 1965, the Forest Code has become the main Brazilian
legislation
for land use throughout the country. The Forest Code
regulates
the protection and use of all Brazilian forests, mangroves
and
grassland ecosystems.
In
short, the farmer's (big landowners) lobby group wishes to change
the
Forest Code mainly to increase the land available for agriculture
and
pasture, arguing that this change is necessary for the economic
development
of Brazil. In early 1999, Micheletto and the farmers
lobby
group presented a law draft which would, if accepted, and among
other
changes, expand from 20% to 50% the area allowed to be clear-
cut in
privately owned land in the Amazon. Facing strong opposition
from
Brazilian society, Congress did not vote on the proposal.
In March
2000, the Brazilian National Environment Council (Conama)
issued
an improved substitute for Micheletto's proposal. This
alternative
text is the result of 30 public hearings in 20 Brazilian
states,
involving 730 organizations from various sectors. The Conama
proposal
is supported by a coalition of 260 Brazilian NGOs behind the
SOS
Forests Campaign.
In
April 2001, the farmers lobby came back with an updated version of
their
old proposal. Their revised text is even worse than the 1999
original
version, as it uses Economic Ecological Zoning as a cover to
disguise
an increase in deforestation. Micheletto's new proposal
would
allow clear-cutting in 60% of small forest properties
(properties
under 150 hectares) in the Amazon, and 50% in
transitional
forests (tracks of vegetation that link the Amazon
rainforest
to the savannas, areas normally richer in terms of
biodiversity
than the forest itself).
Moreover,
it would establish a mechanism that allows landowners to
"compensate"
for excessive clear-cutting of a property by increasing
the
area of legal reserve in another property. To state this more
simply,
farms with rich soil will be heavily clear-cut, while areas
of poor
soil or of low immediate economic value (i.e. geographically
inaccessible)
would be preserved. Commonly, once an area loses its
agricultural
productivity, the farmer simply moves on and clears
additional
forest. Today over 560 million hectares have been
deforested
(15% of the total) in the Brazilian Amazon. More than 16
million
are totally degraded and abandoned.
The new
Micheletto text is based on a false argument that the
economic
development of Brazil's western, central and northern
regions
will only occur through cattle ranching and monocultural
crops,
such as soy bean and cotton. This archaic assumption has been
refuted
most recently by a joint study by the World Bank and Imazon
(a
Brazilian research institute) stating that only 17% of the Amazon
region
has adequate conditions for agriculture and pasture.
Historical
analyses show that land productivity decreases rapidly
once
forests areas are turned into agriculture land, due to the thin
soil
and excessive rains in the region.
Furthermore,
in 2000 a public opinion poll commissioned by
Greenpeace,
Instituto Socioambiental - ISA (a Brazilian NGO), WWF-
Brazil,
and the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo revealed
that
80% of Brazilian voters were against increased destruction of
the
Amazon forest and would not vote for political candidates who
approved
the weakening of the Forest Code. Forest preservation is the
first
priority for the Amazon's 20 million people, according to a
2001
public opinion survey conducted by WWF- Brazil and ISER (a
Brazilian
research institute from Rio). Sixty-nine percent of those
polled
did not consider "progress" more important than nature
conservation.
In
order to prevent the success of this new attempt by the big
landowners
against the Forest Code, a group of Brazilian NGOs
launched,
April 18th, the SOS Forests Campaign to defend the Forest
Code.
Apart from publicly promoting the Conama's proposal the
Campaign
informs Brazilian society on the evil consequences should
Micheletto's
proposal be approved.
If you wish
to communicate your position in favor of the Brazilian
forests
and savannas and against the big landowners' proposal, send a
message
to the Brazilian government representative in your country.
Click
here for the suggested message and to locate the nearest
Brazilian
Embassy.
Send
protest email to your nearest Brazilian embassy at:
http://www.codigoflorestal.com.br/english/cyberaction.asp
For
further information please contact regina@wwf.org.br or
marco@wwf.org.br
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