photo: Threat to Democracy

Brazil’s lower house approval of a bill that will amend the Forest Code is extremely disappointing. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the major contributing factors to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon have been the lack of coherent policies and laws, exacerbated by the lack of institutional presence and lack of enforcement of environmental and forest legislation.

This situation has brought serious difficulties for the effective implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code. The approved bill will only enhance this situation.

Why is this?

The approved bill mandates that native vegetation must be conserved on private rural and farm properties, via creation of so-called Permanent Protection Areas to preserve "fragile" hillside and riverside areas, and legal reserves where native vegetation may not be touched. 

However, some small landowners will be exempt from the legal reserve requirement, according to the text of the approved bill. In addition, existing cultivation of some products including grapes, apples and coffee will continue to be allowed in areas designated as Permanent Protection Areas. 

These exemptions just recognize the current illicit practices that are driving deforestation, and which currently violate the Forest Code, but are not enforced.  Over the years, the vast majority of fines for illegal deforestation, when issued, have simply not been paid, despite recent increases in the value of those fines.

The bill just provides an amnesty for these illicit practices, and will simply encourage further deforestation in Brazil. 

The approved bill chooses to not address the problems with the lack of enforcement of legislation, but most importantly it ignores the historical lack of incentives for valuing forests for sustainable management and ecosystems services.  

The bill will now proceed to the Senate for discussion and voting, where ClientEarth hopes that senior legislators will foresee how this approved bill is set-back for Brazil’s plans to reduce deforestation.