Brazil Moves Closer To Retroactive Approval Of Illegal Settlements, Land Use In Amazon - 230K M2

Brazil moved a step closer to approving a controversial law that would grant land title to 300,000 properties illegally established across some 600,000 square kilometers (230,000 square miles) of protected Amazon forest, reports AFP. The move may improve governance in otherwise lawless areas, but could carry a steep environmental cost without safeguards.

Under the bill, which passed Brazil's Chamber of Deputies Thursday and is now headed to the Senate, a claimant could gain title for properties up to 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) provided the land was occupied before December 2004. Environmentalists fear the legislation could spark deforestation if it fails to include environmental provisions.

"Without environmental guarantees, the message we would be sending the world is that we are giving land titles away with one hand and a chainsaw with the other," Environment Minister Carlos Minc was quoted as saying by AFP. "It would be a license to deforest."

Development interests have lobbied intensely to strip environmental protections from the current version of the bill, but a coalition of green groups is pressuring lawmakers to include some provisions — including a reforestation requirement — in the version that goes to the Senate. While regularization would effectively legitimize land-grabbing prior to 2004, Minc said the move would help improve enforcement of environmental laws.

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0517-amazon.html

Hatrack's law abides.

Brazil clears Indian reservation (BBC)

Brazilian police and soldiers have begun an operation to remove non-indigenous residents from an Indian reservation in northern Brazil.

The operation follows a landmark ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation should be solely for indigenous people.

The non-indigenous rice farmers and farm workers say they are victims of "legalised robbery".

But the authorities say they will be properly compensated.

In March, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that the area in the northern border state of Roraima should be maintained as a single continuous territory exclusively for use by the indigenous population.

The decision was hailed as a major victory for indigenous rights, and was also regarded as setting an important precedent for future court cases.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8030223.stm