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Brazil's forestry bill - the repercussion of a failure to veto
23/05/2012
The Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff has been coming under intense pressure to veto a new piece of legislation that critics claim could speed up the deforestation of the Amazon forest.
The Brazil forestry bill was approved in late April by the country’s Chamber of Deputies in a 247-184 vote after being passed by the Senate back in December 2011. The future of the bill is now in the hands of Rousseff, who promised to veto the bill during her campaign for presidency in 2010 – but she has so far failed to deliver on her pledge.
The bill is set to replace the current laws over how the Amazon rainforest is protected, which has been in place since 1965. The legislation rules that up to 80 per cent of privately owned forest land in the region should be protected – generally limiting the amount of land that can be levelled and used in agriculture.
Supporters of the more lenient bill claim that the current laws are not adhered to widely and are confusing and limit the growth of the agribusiness sector – which is a key industry in Brazil’s recent economic growth. They claims that the current rules have meant that many farmers have been forced off their own land due to restrictions on how they use it.
The changes in the law would make it legal for land-owners to cultivate riverbank regions, which are currently protected. They would also introduce an amnesty for anyone who was involved in illegal logging before 2008.
Environmentalists all over the world are now calling for the controversial bill to be thrown out by the highly respected president. They claim that the lenient rules will speed up the deforestation of the Amazon forest and undo all the good work that Brazil has done over the past decade to reduce logging.
The bill’s opponents claim that a failure to veto the bill will be an embarrassing black mark against Brazil at a time when it should be upping its green credentials in preparation for the RIO+20 UN conference in June. Opposition minister, Ricardo Tripoli told mns.com: "It grants amnesty to loggers and raises the risk of environmental disasters in major cities. Now it is important that the president veto it."
Paulo Moutinho, from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, added that a decision not to veto the plans could result in the destruction of Rousseff’s credibility. He said, "Without a veto by President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil will lose the gains of the last few years which led the country to curb deforestation. We will lose leadership and credibility.”
The climate Observatory claims that the bill could threaten an area of the Amazon measuring 690,000 square kilometres. Removal of an area of forest this size could be a major threat to the fight against climate change as trees play a vital part in removing carbon from the atmosphere.
We believe that investing in sustainably managed plantations in Brazil can help to remove the pressure to cut down native forests for the production of coal and timber products.
The Brazil forestry bill was approved in late April by the country’s Chamber of Deputies in a 247-184 vote after being passed by the Senate back in December 2011. The future of the bill is now in the hands of Rousseff, who promised to veto the bill during her campaign for presidency in 2010 – but she has so far failed to deliver on her pledge.
The bill is set to replace the current laws over how the Amazon rainforest is protected, which has been in place since 1965. The legislation rules that up to 80 per cent of privately owned forest land in the region should be protected – generally limiting the amount of land that can be levelled and used in agriculture.
Supporters of the more lenient bill claim that the current laws are not adhered to widely and are confusing and limit the growth of the agribusiness sector – which is a key industry in Brazil’s recent economic growth. They claims that the current rules have meant that many farmers have been forced off their own land due to restrictions on how they use it.
The changes in the law would make it legal for land-owners to cultivate riverbank regions, which are currently protected. They would also introduce an amnesty for anyone who was involved in illegal logging before 2008.
Environmentalists all over the world are now calling for the controversial bill to be thrown out by the highly respected president. They claim that the lenient rules will speed up the deforestation of the Amazon forest and undo all the good work that Brazil has done over the past decade to reduce logging.
The bill’s opponents claim that a failure to veto the bill will be an embarrassing black mark against Brazil at a time when it should be upping its green credentials in preparation for the RIO+20 UN conference in June. Opposition minister, Ricardo Tripoli told mns.com: "It grants amnesty to loggers and raises the risk of environmental disasters in major cities. Now it is important that the president veto it."
Paulo Moutinho, from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, added that a decision not to veto the plans could result in the destruction of Rousseff’s credibility. He said, "Without a veto by President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil will lose the gains of the last few years which led the country to curb deforestation. We will lose leadership and credibility.”
The climate Observatory claims that the bill could threaten an area of the Amazon measuring 690,000 square kilometres. Removal of an area of forest this size could be a major threat to the fight against climate change as trees play a vital part in removing carbon from the atmosphere.
We believe that investing in sustainably managed plantations in Brazil can help to remove the pressure to cut down native forests for the production of coal and timber products.
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