"Dilma, turn off the chainsaw": the battle over Brazil's forest law

By Helmut Reuter Dec 7, 2011, 21:27 GMT

Brasilia - Brazil wants to soften its rainforest protection legislation, and its Congress is taking the steps necessary to do so, to the dismay of environmental protection activists.

The struggle has been bitter, and it has lasted decades. The rainforest, climate protection efforts and Brazil's credibility in environmental matters are all at stake - as is a lot of money.

Brazil's Senate approved a bill to ease the country's forest code late Tuesday, and it is considered likely that the lower house of Congress will go on to pass it too. If it does, all eyes would turn to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is to have the definitive say in the matter.

'Dilma, turn off the chain saw!' Greenpeace activists demanded this week.

They underscored the message with a huge, inflatable chain saw they installed before the futuristic Congress building in Brasilia. It was intended as a reminder of Rousseff's 2010 campaign promise to veto any law that accelerated deforestation or granted amnesty to those who illegally cleared forests.

The new forest code imposes no sanctions on farmers who engaged in illegal deforestation and ignored nature reserves before July 22, 2008, although in order to avoid penalties, large landowners are required to restore the forest areas they destroyed. Those holding up to 400 hectares do not even need to do that much.

Brazil's Codigo Florestal, often regarded as a model for environmental protection, manages the difficult balance between the interests of landowners and those of the environment. It dates back to 1934, and it has already been modified once, in 1965.

Among other things, it establishes limits on land use. In Amazon rainforest areas, for example, farmers can only use about 20 per cent of their land: they are required to leave 80 per cent to nature, without either agriculture or cattle.

And yet few farmers actually follow the rules and others like them affecting other environmentally-sensitive areas. Some 90 per cent of Brazil's farms are thought to clear more land than allowed for farming.

Under the new law, the quotas are to remain in place - with loopholes.

The new code would also reduce the area of compulsory Amazon rainforest reserve from 80 per cent to just 50 per cent in those Brazilian states where preservation areas and/or the lands of indigenous peoples cover more than 65 per cent of the land.

Farmers' groups regard the more flexible rules as essential to increasing food production.

Environmental activists, on the other hand, are appalled by these proposed changes. They call the new code a 'disgrace' and warn of serious consequences for climate protection if it is enacted.

'The new Forest Code being proposed severely weakens protections for the Amazon rainforest and opens up vast areas to destruction, which would contribute to accelerating climate change,' Greenpeace said on its website.

Brazil is a global leader in climate protection. The world's fifth-largest country wants to drastically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, and to cut down deforestation by 80 per cent by 2020.

Next year's Rio+20 conference is set to mark the 20th anniversary of the first groundbreaking Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro. Rousseff's credibility, and Brazil's, are at stake.

'Right now (Rousseff) can save the Amazon from destruction,' Greenpeace said in a video.

Rousseff may indeed opt to veto the bill. Back in May, when the lower house of the Brazilian Congress passed a different version of the text, she called it 'a disgrace for Brazil.' It is in no way certain that she will sign the latest version into law, even if Brazilian legislators send it to her desk.