Bill To Gut Brazil's 1965 Forest Law Moving Through Legislature - Would Boost Economy, You See . . .

Driven by powerful agribusiness interests, a bill is moving through the Brazilian Congress that could cripple the decades-long effort to protect the Amazon rainforest. The bill would change Brazil’s 1965 Forest Code, which requires that Amazon landowners preserve 80% of their property as forest, and allow states to set the minimum amount of forested land. Soybean farmers and ranchers, responding to high global commodity prices, are considered to hold more sway in state governments.

The legislation would also lift the Forest Code’s strict limits on logging near waterways and on mountain slopes. It would grant amnesty for illegal deforestation that occurred in protected areas before July 2008 — allowing vast swaths of the rainforest to be cleared and farmed. That, according to 10 former Brazilian environment ministers who oppose the legislation, would open the door to more illegal logging.

The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies last week. A struggle is expected in the Senate, but, according to Mongabay.com, a website that tracks forest issues, it is likely to pass. Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s newly elected president, has said she opposes amnesty for illegal logging and has the power to veto parts of the measure.

The Amazon rainforest stores massive amounts of carbon, which, if released, would make a major contribution to changing the global climate. According to a 2010 World Bank study, a 20% reduction in forest cover, combined with droughts, fires and climate change, could cause a dramatic dieback of the Amazon, converting large areas to savannah. Tropical forest scientist Thomas Lovejoy, who chaired the bank’s scientific panel, said the study “indicates a tipping point in the South and Southeast Amazon of 20% -- it is currently at 18%. What is needed is reforestation to lower risk of dieback, rather than promoting more deforestation."

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/05/amazon-rainforest-brazil-legislation.html