Brazil’s President Lula has unveiled a comprehensive plan to protect the Amazon rainforest. In addition to new nature reserves, higher penalties for illegal logging are planned.
The Brazilian government wants to do more to protect the environment, especially the preservation of the Amazon rainforest. President Inácio Lula da Silva presented a 150-point agenda together with Environment Minister Marina Silva.
“I am committed to resuming Brazil’s global leadership in mitigating climate change and controlling deforestation,” Lula said at the action plan launch event. Thanks in particular to the Amazon rainforest, Brazil is “greatly important for the climatic balance of the earth”.
A comprehensive plan for the rainforest
In order to better protect the rainforest, new nature reserves with a total area of three million hectares are to be designated by 2027. The government wants to close 50 percent of forest areas that have already been illegally cleared and on which agricultural production is carried out. In addition, ownership claims in the rainforest areas are to be better controlled.
There are also plans to set up a tracing system for timber, livestock and other agricultural products from the Amazon region. Importing countries are increasingly demanding proof that these products do not come from deforested rainforest areas. In the long term, damaged forests should be able to recover through the protective measures and the native vegetation should be promoted, according to the plan.
Better surveillance against overexploitation
Extensive investments are planned to implement the agenda. In addition to buying surveillance planes, the government plans to hire 1,600 new officers to fight deforestation and set up new forest surveillance bases. Secret service information and satellite images are also to be used to a greater extent for the prosecution of criminal activities. A rural register to monitor forest management is also to be introduced.
In addition to increased surveillance and higher penalties for illegal logging, mining and fishing, Lula is also relying on a package of measures to expand a green economy. This includes the certification of forest products, technical assistance for producers, provision of infrastructure, energy and internet connections, and the promotion of eco-tourism.
Setbacks in nature conservation
Lula, who ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2010, promised far-reaching measures to protect the environment during last year’s election campaign. However, his centre-left government only has around a quarter of the seats in Congress. There, the influence of the agricultural lobby is great, which sees nature conservation as an obstacle to economic development.
In recent weeks, Congress has thwarted Lula’s campaign promises to expand conservation. Parliament made it more difficult to set up indigenous areas and curtailed the powers of the Ministry of the Environment.