Brazil - Brazzil Mag - Now, Brazil Wants Zero Deforestation

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Brazil's Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, reports that the government is studying the establishment of a prohibition on all deforestation activities in Brazil.

The prohibition could last anywhere from six months to a year and is described by Silva as a "braking system," which will permit the continuation of sustainable activities and the cutting down of trees in small areas (up to three hectares).

The idea got a favorable reception at the Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute (Ibama) office in the state of Mato Grosso which has serious problems with burning and deforestation.

Elielson Ayres, who is the head of the office, said the prohibition is opportune because forest rangers are understaffed and cannot control the situation.

"If we make everything stop for six months to a year, we can concentrate our efforts on making forest management work," he said.

Meanwhile, the head of the environment activist group, Amigos da Terra (Friends of the Earth), Roberto Smeraldi, said the prohibition was a good idea but that it should be as long as possible.

"In the state of Mato Grosso, for example, deforestation and burning goes from May to July. So, if the prohibition goes into effect now it will be useless," he pointed out.

Furious response from some senators
written by Guest, July 17, 2005

Watching "TV Camara", the Brazilian government television, I witnessed the furious response to this project from some senators, particulary those representing the states where the biggest damage's being made to Brazilian forests. It is not known outside Brazil perhaps that, these same politicians usually hold ownership of vast areas in those same forests and prohibition goes against their own private interests. Their lame excuse is that people in those areas need employment and "progress". The reality is far from that. Owning vast areas of land what really lies behind, is the desire to transform those areas into multi million soy crop plantations to stuff those same politicians pockets. There is a detail: once used, the land becomes unproductive and the jobs needed to local people (that is, according to these greedy group) is performed by machines. Let's not forget what happened to Sister Dorothy when she fought against the interests of those Powerful land Lords, behind all the agressivness and impunity of paid gunmen in those regions is the hand of some rotten politician.

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