Brazil Considers
Moratorium on Amazon Logging
July 18, 2005 — By Associated Press
BRASILIA, Brazil — The government
could ban logging in Brazilian forests for up to a year to slow
destruction of the Amazon rainforest, the country's environment minister
said Friday.
Marina Silva said the government was considering a ban of between six
months and a year to preserve the world's largest remaining tropical
wilderness.
"What is being discussed in the government is what we call a 'braking
system,'" Silva told the official government news agency Radiobras.
Silva said the moratorium would allow some exceptions in areas where
companies used certified forestry management practices to log in a
sustainable manner. Small-scale farmers would be allowed to cut down as
much as three hectares (7.5 acres) for planting.
The proposal is being analyzed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's
office.
The environment minister is expected to make an official announcement
next week, her office said.
Last year, the Amazon rainforest lost a near-record 26,130 square
kilometers (10,000 square miles) of forest, nearly 6 percent more than
the previous year.
Environmentalists said the moratorium must last a full year to be
effective, because most logging occurs between May and July, during the
dry season.
In 1999, the government suspended logging for three months after it
discovered that loggers had cut down three times more rainforest than
had been officially authorized. But the moratorium had little practical
effect in slowing Amazon destruction.
Brazil's rainforest sprawls over 1.6 million square miles (4.1 million
square kilometers), the size of western Europe. Experts say as much as
20 percent of the forest has been destroyed by development, logging and
farming.
Source: Associated Press |