Brazil's Amazon rainforest farmers debate new land law
The ceiling fans spinning at full speed were not enough to cool the room, but the farmers gathered in Irituia's town hall are used to the oppressive heat of the Amazon.
Most of the plastic seats were empty but the 30 or so people at the meeting in Irituia were paying a lot of attention to discussions about environmentally sound agriculture in their biodiverse part of the world. "We are not many yet but we notice that little by little more of us are realising that sustainable farming is the only way to go, and that we don't have to be enemies of the environmentalists," said Mauro Lucio Costa, chairman of the Farmer's Union of Paragominas.
Paragominas, like Irituia located in the state of Para, topped the deforestation ranking in Brazil in 2008 - and went on a government blacklist.
But since then sawmills have been closed and farms more strictly monitored.
"It's useless nowadays to cut the trees at night or away from the roads to get away with deforestation because now they are watching us with satellites. I tried that not to long ago and was heavily fined," one farmer told the meeting.
Opposing priorities
This environmental law stipulates that landowners in the Amazon must keep 80% of their terrain forested; that drops to 20% for other parts of Brazil.
Proposals to change the legislation pitted those who see development and economic growth as the highest priority (including many farmers, though not all) against those who see conservation as the key issue. That group includes environmentalists and a large part of the scientific community."These NGOs are an international mafia that hold businesses as hostages by threatening to soil the names of those who oppose [them]. These groups thrive when there's conflict," says Katia Abreu, head of Brazil's powerful National Agriculture Confederation (CNA).
"They want to rip Brazilian farmers out of the ground as if we were some kind poisonous weed."
Pressure
Just a few weeks ago it seemed that a version of the bill that eases restrictions on the use of forest land would be approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
But environmentalists managed to garner more political and public support to bring the vote to a halt.
"Even though the Forest Code has been under intense discussion for many years it was only recently, after it was approved in congressional committees, that the media took an interest in it," says Paulo Adario, co-ordinator for Greenpeace's Amazon programme.
"I think the pressure from national and international public opinion was essential to stop the approval of the bill the way the farmers wanted it and to get President [Dilma] Rousseff's government to support some of our concerns," said Mr Adario.
Among the proposed changes that worried environmentalists were plans to:
- exempt small landowners from requirement to preserve 80% forest
- give an amnesty to landowners who cleared forest before 2008
- reduce the strip of land that must be left intact along the banks of rivers and streams from 30m (100ft) to 15m (50ft)
The proposals were the focus of intense wrangling. On 24 May, deputies approved the overhaul of the forest code. It now goes to the Senate and President Rousseff for approval.
Environmentalists argue that the changes and loopholes in the legislation pose a big threat to the Amazon rainforest.
"The farmers are trying to leave doors open to allow for the permanence of plantations in highly sensitive areas like slopes and hilltops," says Paulo Barreto, a researcher at of the Amazon Institute for Mankind and the Environment (Imazon).
Many environmentalists believe that a recent reported increase in Amazon deforestation was caused by farmers trying to clear land before the new Forest Code code is approved.
This would mean that their lands could be recognised as established farmland.
Productivity
But Mrs Abreu argues that the environmentalists' concerns have more to do with ideology than with science.
"Just look at the world's history and you'll see that everywhere agriculture developed along the rivers because our activity depends on water, it's quite obvious," she said.
Mrs Abreu was critical of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), which has called for more for more research before the forest code is changed.
That view, Mrs Abreu said, was "highly politicised".
Environmentalists say that they understand the need for more food production.
But they argue this can be done by increasing the productivity of existing farmland, not clearing more of the Amazon.
Cattle farms in the Amazon have an average productivity of less than one head per hectare (2.5 acres).
"When I bought this farm in 1974 it still had about half of its area covered with original forest, which was what the law required at the time. Since then we have managed to develop by increasing productivity and without clearing any new areas," says Mr Lima.
"I hope the new forest code will make all rules for our activity clearer so we'll be able to work without so many uncertainties about the future." link
Brazil eases rules on conserving Amazon rainforest
Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has voted to ease restrictions on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest.
The amended law also grants some amnesties for previous deforestation. Supporters say Brazil needs land to boost agricultural production, while environmentalists say destruction of the Amazon rainforest will increase.
Wrangling over the final bill is likely, as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff indicated she would veto any bill that contained an amnesty.
After months of at times acrimonious debate, the Chamber of Deputies voted to overhaul the Forest Code, as the legislation is known.
Under the current law, 80% of a farm in the Amazon must remain forested; in other areas, the requirement is lower, falling to 20%.
However, in practice, the legislation has not been widely enforced. It is estimated that 20% of the Amazon, the world's biggest rainforest, has been cleared, mainly as a result of logging and farming. Under the new bill, small-scale landowners, who make up the majority of Brazil's farmers, will be exempt from having to replant deforested land.
Other changes include:
- allowing the use of previously excluded areas such as hilltops and slopes for some kinds of cultivation
- reducing the amount of land that must be left intact along the banks of rivers and streams from 30m (100ft) to 15m (50ft)
- allowing farmers to count forest alongside rivers and lakes on their land as part of their conserved area, so reducing the total amount of land they need to protect or reforest
One of the most controversial elements grants farmers with land of up to 400 hectares (990 acres) an amnesty if they illegally cut down forest before July 2008.
The legislation must now go to the Senate and then to President Rousseff. Her spokesman said she would veto any legislation that included the amnesty.
The changes were proposed by Aldo Rebelo form Brazil's Communist Party (PCdoB), who argued that the existing rules prevented small farmers from making best use of their land to lift themselves out of poverty. Farmers' groups backed the changes, saying Brazil, as one of the biggest exporters of soy, beef and sugar, needed to boost food production in times of high commodity prices.
"None of the world's large farm producers that compete with Brazil - the United States, Europe, China, Argentina and Australia - obliges its producers to preserve any forest," the National Agriculture Confederation (CNA) said.
Amazon dream
Philip Fearnside of the National Institute of Amazon Research said the amnesty would "legalise the illegal"."People believe they can deforest illegally because sooner or later all will be forgiven," he told the Associated Press. But CNA Vice President Assuero Veronez said the changes would not increase deforestation. "We do not have to cut down one single tree. We can increase agricultural output in already deforested areas," he told AP.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil's then military government encouraged people to settle in the Amazon as a way of boosting economic development.
Over the past decade, authorities stepped up monitoring and the enforcement of laws, leading to a significant drop in the rate of clearance.
However, last week satellite images showed that deforestation had increased nearly sixfold in March and April compared with the same period last year.
Much of the destruction has been in Mato Grosso state, the centre of soya farming in Brazil. link
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