29
Nov 2008 - Brasilia, Brazil: Deforestation
in Brazil's Amazon forests has flipped from
a decreasing to an increasing trend, according
to new annual figures released yesterday
by the country's space agency INPE.
Commenting on the figures,
Brazilian environment minister Carlos Minc
confirmed that the government will on Monday
announce forest related carbon emission
reduction targets, which will link halting
deforestation to the national climate change
campaign.
From August 2007 to
July 2008, Brazil deforested 11,968 square
kilometers of forests in the area designated
as the Legal Amazon, a 3.8 per cent increase
over the previous year and an unwelcome
surprise following declines of 18 per cent
over the previous period.
From 2003-2004 to 2006-2007,
annual deforestation totals from the agency
fell from 27,423 km2 to
11,532 km2. There were fears that the current
trend could have been worse but for new
measures introduced part way through the
year when it became apparent that annual
deforestation was accelerating towards a
possible 15,000 hectare level.
WWF-Brazil has praised
in particular restraints on credit for properties
not complying with environmental rules on
deforestation licenses, legal reserve and
permanent preservation areas, strengthened
land ownership rules, increased patrolling
activity and a sharing of responsibility
for halting deforestation with states and
municipalities.
“Credit restrain prevents
effects linked to illegal land occupation
and exploitation (“grilagem”), which is
the main direct and specific cause for deforestation
in the Amazon”, says WWF-Brazil’s CEO, Denise
Hamú.
“Nevertheless, we are
concerned with such a deforestation which
is equivalent to almost 40% the size of
Belgium or the size of Jamaica.
“WWF-Brazil favors that
which was established in the Amazon Pact
for Forest Value Acknowledgement and Deforestation
Decrease, which proposes concrete actions
and urges the government and society to
endeavor all efforts to curb deforestation
to zero level in seven years”.
The Pact was an initiative
by a group of NGOs and the proposed actions
have an estimate cost of R$ 1 billion (1,000,000,000
reais) per year, which is relatively cheap
as compared to the social costs (droughts,
floods, deaths, economic difficulties and
so forth) inflicted on everyone by deforestation.
WWF-Brazil’s CEO says
that it is necessary to adopt a wider conservation
strategy. “We favor a definition of clear
deforestation mitigation targets, besides
economic and fiscal mechanisms to encourage
conservation and the sustainable use of
natural resources, as well as to discourage
predatory practices”, says Denise Hamú.
WWF Brazil welcomed
the forthcoming carbon emission reduction
targets, noting that deforestation and forest
fires together are responsible for 75% of
Brazilian green house gas emissions. The
targets add to a range of other new measures
announced in October, following preliminary
assessments that deforestation rates in
August 2008 had reached triple those a year
earlier.
“Negligence towards
our forests causes Brazil to rank fourth
among the larger contributors to the planet
warming,” Hamú said.
The decrease in the
Amazon deforestation rate achieved in the
last two years shows that it is viable for
Brazil to adopt emission curb targets. The
adoption of targets to decrease emissions
from deforestation could place Brazil in
a forefront position for the international
climate negotiations due to start in a few
days, in Poznan, Poland.
WWF-Brazil’s Conservation
Director, Carlos Alberto de Mattos Scaramuzza,
explains that actions to fight deforestation
must run on four tracks. The first one is
the effective protection of forests through
creation and implementation of protected
areas. Secondly, there is the promotion
of sustainable use of natural resources,
through forest management capacity building
in the Amazon states. Then there are patrolling
actions to tackle illegal activity threats
which are linked to land property and occupation
(“grilagem”), to agribusiness and to large
infrastructure works. Finally, we must have
financial offset actions to reward those
who protect the forest.
“We acknowledge some
positive actions taken by the federal government,
but we urge some improvements,” Scaramuzza
said. “In particular, we call for the continuation
of the protected areas creation process,
the strengthening of implementation efforts
in the already created protected areas,
the allocation of personnel and their management
capacity building, plus the effective implementation
of the new forest policy, including forest
management capacity development in the Amazon
states.”
The Amazon Fund, created
by the government in August 2008, is also
an important policy to make financial offset
viable for those who protect the forest.
Nevertheless, WWF-Brazil claims that funds
should be applied in the end of the chain.
“It is crucial that
funds reach the field, direct to local communities,
land owners and protected areas”, Scaramuzza
said. “We hope that the Amazon Fund implementation
will encourage innovation, creativity, experimentation
and the involvement of civil society; and
that it will be complemented by public funds,
instead of being used to fulfill the blanks
and gaps in governmental programs”.
