Forestry Investment News
Scientists want their voices heard in Brazil
26/07/2012
Scientists meeting at the annual Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) convention have praised Brazil’s environmental and economic credentials. However, they also warned that, without continued leadership to protect forests, problems could start to occur.
This year's meeting of 1,200 tropical biologists was the 49th annual event to take place among the ATBC. The conclusion of the meeting was that the Brazilian government should use scientific input and research to back-up and inform their environmental policies. This should help them to continue to safeguard their forests, species and native land.
John Kres, the executive director at the ATBC, stated, "Brazil's success in advancing science and conservation, while achieving impressive economic growth and significant improvements in human welfare are being watched by the world as a potential model for environmentally sustainable development."
He talked about how recent development have caused some concern as the government has started to bring in legislation that goes against the advice of scientists. This is threatening a lot of the achievements we've had in the past two decades,” added Carlos Fonseca of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
One of the concerns was the weakening of the Forest Code, which President Rousseff largely overruled after major public and international pressure. However, there is no doubt that the boat is being rocked and that pressure from landowners and developer is taking its toll on the nation’s environmental protection policies.
The pressure is rising thanks to the growing strength of the economy and the resulting desire to grow further. Brazil is set to host the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup all within the coming four years, which is further boosting the country’s profile internationally.
However, it seems that the world’s tropical biologists are extremely keen for the Brazilian government to continue to fulfill their responsibility to its vulnerable ecology by listening to the advise of scientists. Stanford University’s José Manuel Fragoso, explained, "We feel that Brazil has been in a leadership position with regard to the environment so we're disappointed to see the government failing to address concerns raised by the scientific community on some of these large-scale industrial development projects like the Belo Monte dam and the proposed project on the Tapajós River."
An effective way by which Brazil's government can reduce the pressure on its natural forests is to attract foreign investment into non-native, sustainably-run plantation projects, such as those run by Greenwood Management. The growing steel industry, for example, can obtain its charcoal from the timber grown on these plantations rather than using timber from native trees that make up the valuable rainforests that grow naturally in Brazil.
In the meantime, investors can rest assured that they are contributing to an ethical project that help to prevent deforestation and even helps to increase the amount of land given over to forests in Brazil.
This year's meeting of 1,200 tropical biologists was the 49th annual event to take place among the ATBC. The conclusion of the meeting was that the Brazilian government should use scientific input and research to back-up and inform their environmental policies. This should help them to continue to safeguard their forests, species and native land.
John Kres, the executive director at the ATBC, stated, "Brazil's success in advancing science and conservation, while achieving impressive economic growth and significant improvements in human welfare are being watched by the world as a potential model for environmentally sustainable development."
He talked about how recent development have caused some concern as the government has started to bring in legislation that goes against the advice of scientists. This is threatening a lot of the achievements we've had in the past two decades,” added Carlos Fonseca of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
One of the concerns was the weakening of the Forest Code, which President Rousseff largely overruled after major public and international pressure. However, there is no doubt that the boat is being rocked and that pressure from landowners and developer is taking its toll on the nation’s environmental protection policies.
The pressure is rising thanks to the growing strength of the economy and the resulting desire to grow further. Brazil is set to host the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup all within the coming four years, which is further boosting the country’s profile internationally.
However, it seems that the world’s tropical biologists are extremely keen for the Brazilian government to continue to fulfill their responsibility to its vulnerable ecology by listening to the advise of scientists. Stanford University’s José Manuel Fragoso, explained, "We feel that Brazil has been in a leadership position with regard to the environment so we're disappointed to see the government failing to address concerns raised by the scientific community on some of these large-scale industrial development projects like the Belo Monte dam and the proposed project on the Tapajós River."
An effective way by which Brazil's government can reduce the pressure on its natural forests is to attract foreign investment into non-native, sustainably-run plantation projects, such as those run by Greenwood Management. The growing steel industry, for example, can obtain its charcoal from the timber grown on these plantations rather than using timber from native trees that make up the valuable rainforests that grow naturally in Brazil.
In the meantime, investors can rest assured that they are contributing to an ethical project that help to prevent deforestation and even helps to increase the amount of land given over to forests in Brazil.
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