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Brazil to introduce more timber concessions
13/10/2010
Brazil is intending to auction off swathes of the Amazon rain forest as part of a new method to reduce demand for illegal timber, it has been reported.
The government is planning to revive concessions for private companies and cooperatives to log its national forests, following years of legal battles and political wranglings.
Speaking at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Summit, Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of Brazil's National Forestry Service, said, "The future of the Amazon - combating deforestation and climate change - is strengthening forest management. I don't see any other solution."
Around one million hectares are to be put aside for private concessions before the end of the year, rising to nearly 11 million hectares within four to five years. The current amount of land in concessions in a mere 150,000 hectares.
The concessions mean that controlled logging will extract only as many trees from the forest as can be naturally regenerated. A previous attempt to introduce more concessions in 2003 faced ardent opposition from conservative politicians who deemed it to be a privatisation of public assets.
Hummel explained, "Back then we didn't explain the process well. Now, it's all cleared up. There hasn't been a questioning of privatization for over a year."
It is also hoped that the concessions will actually help establish more state control in the often lawless Amazon region, where settlers and speculators often illegally occupy public lands.
The government is planning to revive concessions for private companies and cooperatives to log its national forests, following years of legal battles and political wranglings.
Speaking at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Summit, Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of Brazil's National Forestry Service, said, "The future of the Amazon - combating deforestation and climate change - is strengthening forest management. I don't see any other solution."
Around one million hectares are to be put aside for private concessions before the end of the year, rising to nearly 11 million hectares within four to five years. The current amount of land in concessions in a mere 150,000 hectares.
The concessions mean that controlled logging will extract only as many trees from the forest as can be naturally regenerated. A previous attempt to introduce more concessions in 2003 faced ardent opposition from conservative politicians who deemed it to be a privatisation of public assets.
Hummel explained, "Back then we didn't explain the process well. Now, it's all cleared up. There hasn't been a questioning of privatization for over a year."
It is also hoped that the concessions will actually help establish more state control in the often lawless Amazon region, where settlers and speculators often illegally occupy public lands.
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