Brazilian legislators postpone key vote on forests law

Dec 13, 2011, 22:47 GMT

Brasilia - The lower house of the Brazilian Congress postponed Tuesday until March 2012 a crucial vote on a controversial new forest code.

House leaders set the vote for March 6-7, arguing that changes made in the Senate to the original text that the lower house of Congress passed in May make it impossible for the bill to be voted on this year, as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had hoped.

For this reason, the final decision on the code, which according to environmental activists will lead to increased deforestation in the Amazon, is to be made only about three months before Rio de Janeiro hosts the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

'We cannot vote on a bill without knowing its implications and the demands it will impose on this country's farmers,' said right-of-centre legislator Ronaldo Caiado.

The Brazilian Senate last week passed the new forest code bill. Environmental activists have called for Rousseff to veto the law even if it is passed by the lower house of Congress.

The new forests law would provide broad amnesty for deforestation by farmers and ease requirements for riverine and rainforest conservation.

The new code, if eventually implemented, would exempt farmers from the payment of fines for illegal deforestation carried out before 2008, as long as they commit to recovering the rainforest areas that were destroyed.

Small land holders, owning up to 400 hectares, would no longer be required to restore areas that they illegally deforested.

The bill also reduces from 30 to 15 metres in width the swath of original vegetation that has to be preserved on the banks of rivers narrower than 10 metres - a measure environmental activists say increases the risk of natural disasters, including floods and mudslides.

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

The Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock backs the proposed new code and has said that Brazil needs the changes to 'preserve its position as one of the largest food exporters in the world.'

But environmental activists charge that the move will increase deforestation, keep Brazil from meeting ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions and tarnish the country's image as an environmental leader.

Brazil will next year host the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Rio biodiversity conference, which launched the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Amazon, which spreads across Brazil and other South American countries, is the world's largest green lung, but it is fast disappearing due to agriculture and other pursuits.