Brazil launches Amazon forest protection program

Source: Xinhua

Brazil launches Amazon forest protection program
2009-06-20 11:44:35

BRASILIA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched a program on Friday to regulate land ownership and protect rainforest in the Amazon area.

The so-called "Legal Land and Green Arch" program combined giving land titles to Amazon residents with paying the habitants to prevent deforestation, Lula said at the launching ceremony in a Amazon frontier town in Mato Grosso state. The program will regulate the ownerships of 296,000 buildings occupied by settlers in nine states of the area.

The program will begin in 43 municipalities most affected by deforestation, and the goal for this year is to issue 90,000 titles of land in 93 municipalities.

Government agencies will coordinate under the plan to prevent illegal logging and train some 300 officials to prevent land-grabbing in some municipalities.



Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/20/content_11571977.htm

I have often said I do not know why they do not give these people
some sort of lively hood so they do not have to destroy the forests to survive.
I hope this is a giant step. We will see. Thank you for the info.:party:

Brazil pays to keep trees in the Amazon
By Stuart Grudgings and Brian Ellsworth in Brasilia
Reuters
June 20, 2009 09:18am

BRAZIL will pay small farmers to plant trees in deforested Amazon areas to slow rain forest degradation.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the announcement yesterday as he unveiled a broad plan to protect the region.

The effort may help stave off growing international pressure on Brazil to reduce deforestation that scientists say spurs global warming, providing alternative livelihoods to poor Amazon dwellers who live off timber exploitation.

"We need to think about how to make those people feel that they will make more money by planting trees than by cutting them down," President Lula said after a ceremony to inaugurate the "Green Arch" program to protect the Amazon.

"The small (agricultural) producers that plant trees in areas that were degraded, we're going to pay them $51 per month." He did not offer further details on the program.

The proposal appears similar to schemes proposed by global conservation groups, which Brazil has largely resisted, that would pay rain forest residents to prevent deforestation that causes 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

More:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25663467-38199,00.html