More than 70 percent of Amazon loss occurred between May and
July 2004, after President Lula’s “Action Plan to Curb
Deforestation” had been adopted. The plan, which was presented in
March 2004, took seven months of elaboration and had the
participation of 13 ministries committing resources, defining
responsibilities and setting a timetable.
“Clearly Lula’s administration has failed up to now to implement
the Action Plan and to protect the Amazon,” said Paulo Adario,
Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Coordinator. “Although there have been
positive measures taken by the government, such as the creation of
protected areas and demarcation of Indigenous lands, the fact that
the annual average of deforestation has been more than 23,000
square kilometers for the last three years is simply unacceptable.
This is a national shame.”
During the same period, Lula’s Government has celebrated the
rapid expansion in grain production and world leadership in meat
exports, with the Minister of Treasury Antonio Palocci declaring,
“Agribusiness is the best business of Brazil.”
Almost half (48 percent) of the deforestation occurred in the
Amazon basin state of Mato Grosso, governed by the largest
individual soy producer in the world, Blairo Maggi. Of the 12,576
square kilometers lost in the State, 4,176 square kilometers were
authorized by the government. The rest was illegal. Maggi doesn’t
hide his opinion about deforestation, “A 40 percent increase in
deforestation doesn’t mean anything at all, and I don’t feel the
slightest guilt over what we are doing here,” Maggi said in an
interview to The New York Times in September 2003, referring to
the Amazon deforestation rate of the previous year.
“Agribusiness and illegal logging are key culprits of
deforestation,” said Adario. “Lula’s administration is facing a
fundamental contradiction: to fight Amazon deforestation or to
promote the expansion of agribusiness to pay the Brazilian external
debt. To make a real difference on the ground, the government needs
to restrict soy plantations to areas already deforested, combat
illegal logging and effectively implement their own
anti-deforestation plan.”
By allowing this level of Amazon destruction, the government is
also contributing to the devastating impacts of global warming.
Carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and burning in the
Amazon are the main Brazilian contributions to climate change and
there is growing evidence that climate change is drying out the
forests.
Other contacts: Scott Paul, Forest Campaign Coordinator
(202) 319-2469
Exp. contact date: 2005-06-19 00:00:00
