setembro, 22 2011

Federal Government needs to step in to block proposed changes that will unleash more deforestation and pardon environmental crimes
 
Environmentalists view with great concern this Wednesday's (Sept. 09) approval by the Senate Standing Committee for Constitution and Justice Affairs of the text of the draft bill proposing changes to the Forest Law. Although the voting was not nominal only five of the 23 senator on the committee expressed any opposition to the text. They were: Randolfe Rodrigues (PSOL-Amapa), Marcelo Crivella (PRB-Rio de Janeiro), Ana Rita (PT-Espirito Santo), Antonio Carlos Valadares (PSB-Sergipe) and Lindbergh Faria (PT-Rio de Janeiro).
 
Surprisingly, an agreement between the senator charged with producing the Committee's report on the Bill, Luiz Henrique (PMBD-Santa Catarina), and the senator with the same responsibility in the Standing Committee for Environmental affairs, Jorge Viana (PT-Acre) decided that more than 90 proposed amendments questioning the constitutionality of the text will only be examined by the Standing Committees for Science and Technology, for Agriculture and for the Environment.
 
WWF-Brazil's Conservation Director, Carlos Alberto de Mattos Scaramuzza, feels that at this critical moment the Federal Government needs to step in, shoulder its responsibilities and act more consistently to ensure that the Forest Law reform does not turn into a piece of legislation that actually promotes  deforestation.
 
"The Civil Office of the Presidency needs to mobilise senators from the government benches and the Ministry of the Environment needs to spearhead the urgent search for solutions to the risks posed by the changes to current legislation, indicating very clearly the harm and the impacts that they will cause to natural resources, biodiversity and agriculture itself", insists Scaramuzza. He also declares that some of the changes being proposed will affect access to water resources, jeopardise the quality of soils and make it increasingly difficult to access international markets where sustainability criteria are in place. "At the end of the day, farmers and agricultural producers will lose as well", he adds.
 
If the text is approved by the other committees, it will then go before a plenary session of the senate  to be voted. "Time is running out. The Committees have the great responsibility of making the alterations that Brazilian society is clamouring for  so that the plenary session will be able to vote on a piece of legislation that puts Brazil squarely on the road to a new development model based on the principles of sustainability.
 
On the same Wednesday, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops staged an act in favour of  a Forest Law that protects the interests of small farmers and coming generations, by  fostering the conservation of forests and the responsible use of natural resources.