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Rain Forest Destruction
Governor of Mato Grosso blamed for “rape of rainforest”
Jun 16th
Maggi protests report blaming him for "rape of rainforest" – News – AE-Brazil.
Governor of Mato Grosso and "Soy King" Blairo Maggi (Popular Socialist Party – PPS) refuted a report in the Friday edition of British daily "The Independent" calling him the man behind "the rape of the rainforest".
"I think the accusation is shocking, an exaggeration and disrespectful", he said.
"I can personally say that my company (Grupo Amaggi) has carried out no deforestation over the past few years. I think they (the newspapers) were heavy handed and they exaggerated. We’re going to defend ourselves and make a formal protest to these newspapers," he said.
Maggi said that his state is being attacked because its economy has grown at a rate of 8% annually.
He added that he had not been sought out by the Independent, and accused Greenpeace of carrying out a campaign against his state in Europe and the U.S..
"It’s an exaggeration. This is not what’s going on. Sensationalist newspapers are doing this to sell their stories," he claimed.
Maggi added that the Mato Grosso government does not take responsibility for deforestation of the Amazon, only for what takes place in the state itself."It should be made clear that areas of under 300 hectares are the responsibility of Ibama (the Brazilian Environmental Protection Agency), a federal government inspection body," said Maggi.
"In 2004, areas of up to 300 hectares and therefore the responsibility of Ibama, saw deforestation on a total of 748,000 hectares", he added.
As for areas of over 300 hectares, which are the responsibility of the Mato Grosso government, 890,000 hectares were deforested. Of this total 400,000 hectares were deforested legally, that is, with correct licensing. The remaining 490,000 hectares were illegally cleared and were appropriately fined by the Mato Grosso government, he went on.
These fines totaled R$ 77 million (approximately $30 million) in 2004, with 94.8% of illegal clearing activity thus fined.
Maggi went on to say that when he became state governor in 2003 only 1,587 rural properties had environmental licensing and that over 2003 to 2005 4,793 properties received licenses. He said this means a greater monitoring and control of clearances.
At present 15 million hectares have this licensing, of which 11.1 million hectares were granted by the Maggi government.
Maggi said in April that he will run for reelection in 2006 and that he is available to run as President of Brazil in 2010.
Maggi is the single largest soy producer in the world.
Brazil Greens quit govt over Amazon destruction
Jun 16th
Reuters AlertNet – Brazil Greens quit govt over Amazon destruction.
BRASILIA, Brazil, May 19 (Reuters) – Legislators for Brazil’s small Green Party quit the government on Thursday to protest its failure to prevent a near-record rise in destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
The party said Wednesday’s government announcement that Amazon deforestation hit its second-highest level last year was the final straw after what it called a string of disastrous environmental policies by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"This government represents one of the biggest-ever reversals for Brazilian environmental policy," said Jovino Candido, one of seven Green Party members in the lower House of Deputies who withdrew support from the ruling coalition in Congress.
The Green Party has only a tiny fraction of the 513 deputies in the lower house, but its departure marked another political setback for Lula as he tries to rebuild support after a string of defeats.
Brazilian Culture Minister Gilberto Gil, a member of the Green Party, was in Cannes, France and not immediately available to comment on his plans, a spokesman said.
Lula entered office in 2003 on high hopes he would control use of threatened Amazon areas and balance needs for environmental protection with economic growth.
After 28 months in office environmentalists say he has done more to promote dams, roads and farming in the Amazon than halt destruction of the world’s largest rainforest, which is home to up to 30 percent of the world’s plant and animal species.
Environmentalists have applauded Lula’s efforts to create vast Amazon reserves to promote sustainable use of timber and land resources but they have criticized his inability to enforce environmental laws protecting the vast jungle.
Illegal loggers, land speculators and farmers deforested an area of rainforest larger than the U.S. state of New Jersey between 2003 and 2004. Brazil’s soy and beef farmers often move into deforested areas, driven by high global prices and booming demand for their exports.
Central America’s last rain forest shrinks as it burns
Jun 1st
FLORES, GUATEMALA – There are only a few paths through the wilderness of the rain forest near Peten, 500 kilometres north of Guatemala City.
To the right and left of those trails, vast tracts of land that used to be part of the central American rain forest are burning. Squatters, ranchers and peasants have burned a several kilometre-wide swath through the forest.
Everywhere, charred roots poke through the ground as herds search the scorched earth for any surviving vegetation. Every time nature attempts to reassert itself and grow back, another fire is started to push it back.
Large areas of forest are burning everywhere. Trunks of mahogany trees lie smouldering in their own ashes. The ranchers are proud of their work. Fewer trees, more livestock, more riches, they argue.
“The forest doesn’t matter at all to them,” says David Dudenhoefer of Forest-Alliance, an international organization. “They would prefer to flatten the rain forest.”
No one fights them…
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