Last month torrential rains in the northeast of Brazil lead to widespread flooding, entire towns were flattened and so far 51 people have been reported killed with a further 76 still missing. So a legislative bill to modify the Forestry Code has immediately set off alarm bells with activists everywhere. According to them the bill will only worsen the effects of extreme weather, which is increasingly frequent in the context of climate change.
As the bill made its way though Congress, 13 environmental organisations expressed their concern in an open letter to all the candidates vying for the Brazilian Presidency in the October elections. Rafael Cruz of the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace told IPS that the proposed changes were an ‘historical reversal’ of the 1965 forestry code that is currently in force.
Environmentalists find the bill particularly controversial as it proposes declaring an amnesty for illegal logging on more than 40 million hectares of savannah and forest in the Amazon region recorded since 1996. In the letter environmentalists point out that this would pardon an equivalent of 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted illegally.
According to the lawyer Rebelo, reform of the Forestry Code is necessary as at present agricultural development and with it the supply of food for the Brazilians in greatest need are at risk from the existing rules.
Another controversial point in the bill is the removal of a nationwide requirement to maintain a portion of larger properties in legal reserve.
“In the Amazon forest alone, that could mean the elimination of legal reserves of up to 70 million hectares,” states the environmental groups’ letter. Assuming that half of those areas are already deforested, “even so, the legislative bill removes legal protection from at least 35 million hectares of forest,” the letter says.
In addition the bill also proposes that each Brazilian state can use its own criteria to reduce upwards of 50% from the federally defined areas of permanent preservation, which act as buffer zones along rivers and lakes in an effort to protect these water sources. This will allow the release of 12.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide stored in the vegetation of the Amazon. This amounts to three times Brazil’s goal for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases released through deforestation. Brazil even announced that goal during the climate conference in Copenhagen last year.
Despite this the bill was approved last Tuesday by a special committee of the Forestry Code by 13 votes in favour to five against. Now the proposal will be put for consideration in the House floor before a vote in the Senate.
Despite this victory for the agricultural sector, (members of the caucus and representatives of rural producers applauded the approval) not everyone was thrilled, in particular the representatives of family farms and small holders left disappointed.
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