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.