Brazil to Create 'Green Barrier' to Protect AmazonTags: amazone brasil deforestation landuse planing land conversion & agrobusiness government
Brazil plans to create a "green barrier" to deter deforestation in the Amazon and will seize and sell cattle, grains and timber produced illegally in the region, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said.
Minc, who spoke to reporters today in Brasilia, blamed ranchers and farmers seeking to boost beef and soybean output as international prices climb for increasing deforestation.
The government plans to create three new natural reserves in the Amazon to stop farmers from ravaging the forest, Fernanda Carvalho, an adviser to Minc, said. The funds raised in the sale of cattle, grains and timber seized from illegal areas will help finance the government's anti-hunger program, Minc said.
Minc, who took office last week, said the Amazon forest is his priority. He faces the challenge to fight quickening deforestation without becoming an impediment for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's plans to spur economic growth, which include building two hydroelectric plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon to meet rising demand for energy.
It will be very difficult for deforestation this year to stay below last year's,'' Minc said.The worst months are still to come.''
Deforestation is usually higher in the dry season which lasts from June to September, Minc said.
Preliminary satellite data show 1,123 square kilometers of forest were destroyed in April, almost eight times more than in March, the National Institute of Space Research said today. The jump may have been overestimated because visibility was better in April, when skied were clearer, the institute said.
Deforestation in the Amazon accelerated in the last five months of 2007, according to preliminary figures from the Environmental Ministry that show destruction between August and December may have reached as many as 7,000 square kilometers (2,700 square miles), or about 60 percent of the deforestation rate in the 12 months through July 2007.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andre Soliani in Brasilia at .netCarolina Matos in Sao Paulo at .net
© Bloomberg (USA) -- 2008-06-02
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