10/02/2010
- "For the first time, deforestation
in the Amazon is under control. And we will
not return to the previous levels of destruction",
said minister Carlos Minc, stressing that
the joint effort of ministries of the Environment
and Justice was responsible for the anticipation,
in five years, of the goal of continued
reduction of deforestation that Brazil presented
to the United Nations.
The minister of the
Environment and the minister of Justice,
Tarso Genro, signed on Tuesday (February
9) a bill for the establishment of the Environmental
Protection Fund and the Interministerial
Commission to Fight Environmental Crimes
and Offenses (CICCIA). Carlos Minc announced
that the Commission will also fight deforestation
in the Cerrado and in the Caatinga.
The minister of Justice
emphasized that CICCIA has the support from
President Lula. The Commission joins efforts
of Ibama, the Chico Mendes Institute for
Biodiversity Conservation and the Brazilian
Intelligence Agency, among other institutions.
"The integration
creates a whole that is greater than the
sum of its parts", said Minc, noting
that Brazil and President Lula had an outstanding
participation at the UN meeting in Copenhagen,
in December. According to him, the actions
that CICCIA has been carrying out are fundamental
for the successive decreases of the rate
of deforestation in the Amazon.
The bill that will be
sent to Congress will formalize the Environmental
Protection Fund and will repeal the ordinance
that establishes the Commission. If approved,
the new law will enable CICCIA to continue
its work of coordination between different
ministries and institutions in the fight
against deforestation.
+ More
2009, a year dedicated
to climate change
09/02/2010 - Maiesse
Gramacho - "There is no doubt that
2009 was a year totally focused on climate
issues", says the secretary of Climate
Change and Environmental Quality of the
Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA),
Suzana Kahn. The issue reached the agenda
of discussions around the world, culminating
in the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-15),
held in December, in Copenhagen (Denmark).
"I think it is important
to maintain the strong commitment that the
country showed during the COP-15. The MMA
will work for it", says Suzana. At
the meeting, which brought together delegations
from more than one hundred countries in
Copenhagen (Denmark) to discuss ways to
control global warming, Brazil presented
bold targets to reduce its emissions of
greenhouse gases (responsible for raising
the planet's temperature, which can generate
natural disasters).
The document that led
to the proposal presented at COP-15 was
prepared by the MMA. The text was then discussed
with experts from other ministries and finally
presented to President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva in November, about a month
before the meeting in Copenhagen.
In Denmark, the Brazilian
government announced a commitment to reduce
from 36.1% to 38.9% the projected emissions
for 2020 (which is 2.7 billion tonnes),
with actions in the areas of land use, agriculture,
energy and siderurgy. The commitment was
reinforced by the sanction, in the last
week of December, of the National Policy
on Climate Change (PNMC), setting into law
the targets presented at COP-15.
Suzana Kahn also highlights
the creation, in early December, of the
National Fund on Climate Change - the first
one in the world that use funds from the
oil activity for actions relating to mitigation
and adaptation to climate change.
The Fund's resources
- that can reach R$ 1 billion per year -
will prioritize actions in the Northeast
and in the coastal region of Brazil, which
are more vulnerable to the effects of global
warming. The management of the Fund will
be made jointly by BNDES (Brazilian Development
Bank) and the MMA.
Another advance, according
to the secretary, was the creation of the
Brazilian Panel on Climate Change, whose
goal is to provide scientific information
on the subject to guide the implementation
of public policies. According to Suzana,
in the first quarter of 2010, the Scientific
Committee of the Panel will be formed, gathering
researchers from several institutions.
The Panel will not conduct
researches, nor will monitor data related
to climate. Its role will be to evaluate
the data produced by the scientific community
on environmental, social, economic and scientific
aspects of the climate change to allow a
better understanding of the impacts of the
problem and the actions of adaptation and
mitigation that should be taken.
In 2009, the MMA has
also begun to classify the vehicules circulating
in the country, according to their emissions
of CO2 and other pollutants - substances
that promote global warming and affect human
health. The initiative was named the Green
Note (Nota Verde), and has had two editions:
the first included the models manufactured
in 2008, and, the second one, those produced
in 2009. "The goal of Green Note is
to guide the consumer. We want the conscious
consumption to grow more and more, and then
create a positive competition among automakers
to produce more efficient cars", argues
the minister of the Environment, Carlos
Minc. He says that in 2010 the Green Note
will include motorcycles, buses and trucks.
To Suzana Kahn, "2009
was a year of achievements, and 2010 is
the year to consolidate these achievements".
She says the country has made substantial
progress on issues related to the environment,
and that was thanks to the work being done
by the MMA. "In the past, the climate
issue, for example, was very restricted
to the Ministry of Science and Technology
and the Ministry of External Relations.
MMA enabled a broader discussion and thus
the achievement of more advanced positions
on the subject", she says.
+ More
MMA will expand activities
for the sustainable development of the Amazon
11/02/2010 - The Ministry
of the Environment (MMA) and the Superintendency
for the Development of Amazon (Sudam) will
expand the implementation of actions to
promote sustainable development in the Amazon
region. The partnership combines the strategies
of the Amazon Ecological-Economic Macrozoning
(MacroZEE) to the Regional Development Plan
of the Amazon (PRDA) in the search for a
new model of production in the region that
values people and the standing forest. The
partnership will follow the guidelines of
the Sustainable Amazon Program (PAS).
According to the director
of Territorial Zoning of the MMA, Roberto
Vizentin, the MacroZEE will territorialize
the Amazon region. "The PAS defines,
for example, that we must expand agroforestry
systems, but does not indicate where it
will happen. MacroZEE territorializes the
public policy, indicating where it can be
implemented", he explains.
The MacroZEE divides
the Legal Amazon in 10 territorial units,
with indications of the best strategies
for sustainable development in each area,
according to their social, economic and
environmental characteristics. This actions
may affect 23 million people living in the
Amazon region.
The PRDA will follow the
MacroZEE's strategies to develop programs
and projects of investment and promotion
of sustainable productive activities in
each of the 10 territorial units.
The implementation of
actions following the three policies will
allow Brazil to achieve its goals of sustainable
development in the region, coupled with
the reduction of deforestation, the promotion
of a sustainable economy and the job creation,
prioritizing the local population. Last
week, representatives of MMA, Sudam, Bank
of the Amazon and of the Superintendency
of the Manaus Free Trade Zone gathered in
Belém (Pará) to discuss the
partnership.
