Brazilian Government
announces New
Anti-Deforestation
Measures
Brazil's newly-appointed
Environment Minister
Carlos Minc announced a
series of measures to
fight illegal
deforestation in the
Amazon region, local
media reported on
Wednesday.
Cattle raised illegally
in the region will be
confiscated, and all
illegal lumber and
timber that have been c
ut down will be
confiscated and
auctioned off to finance
the social program "No
Hunger," Minc said.
The grains and foods
grown in these areas
will also be cut down
and auctioned off to aid
the program, he said.
The measure demonstrates
a "message that we want
to send out to all those
who are deforesting the
area," the minister
said.
The operations against
illegal cattle will have
a "minimal" effect on
Brazil's economy, he
said.
"The rounding-up of some
1,000 heads of cattle
will not affect Brazil's
meat exports," he said.
Minc said the soaring
prices of soybean and
meat have given
additional incentive to
the illegal farming
invasion and
deforestation of the
Amazon.
"Time is running out and
the situation is
worrisome," he said.
Defending the
government's measures as
"the right thing to do,"
Minc said its aim "is to
substitute a model of
sustainable development
for a predatory model of
production."
In April alone, a region
the size of the city of
Rio de Janeiro was
deforested, and
according to Minc, "the
worst is yet to come."
A study by the National
Institute of Spatial
Research showed that
every 10 seconds an area
equivalent to the size
of a soccer field is cut
down.
"With the data that we
have obtained, we have
affirmed with certainty
that there has been an
increase in the
deforestation of the
Amazon. The process of
devastation of the
forestland is much more
intense than we had
imagined," Gilberto
Camara, director of the
institute, was quoted as
saying by local media.
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