Brazilian environmentalists urge the Congress to reject Amazon deforestation new bill

A group of environmental organizations released a joint technical note about the impacts of the new proposal that aims to reduce protection of the Jamanxim National Forest. The measure will benefit land grabbers and may double deforestation in the region.

Only a few weeks after signing the veto to the proposal (Provisional Measure – MP 756) that would drastically reduce the protection of the Jamanxim National Forest (Flona), in Pará state, the Brazilian President Michel Temer presented a new bill (No.8,107/2017) to replace the MP 756. This is yet another bargain with the rural caucus members in an attempt to gain votes that can free him from corruption charges.

The new bill is even worse than the first proposal: this time, the area is to be transferred to the category of Environmental Protection Area (APA) – a conservation unit that allows activities such as cattle grazing and agriculture – is 354,000 hectares, opposed to the 305,000 hectares proposed before.

In response to this attack against the national patrimony, Greenpeace Brazil, ICV, Imaflora, Imazon, IPAM, ISA, TNC Brazil and WWF-Brazil released collectively a technical note to raise awareness about the destructive consequences of this measure for the environment and to Brazil if approved.

“We reject the bill presented by the federal government to the National Congress and we urge, as representatives of civil society, that it is dismissed. Any protection reduction will lead to more conflicts in the region and also to more deforestation, which will put in jeopardy not only the future of the economy in the country, but also the future of the climate around the world”, the note states.

The organizations warn that:

The bill represents a subsidy of at least half-a-billion Brazilian reals (BRL$) to the land grabbers that reign in the region;
The bill is not intended to benefit small-scale properties (up to 4 fiscal modules) or family farming. The average area disputed by the Flona occupants is 1,700 hectares, that is to say, nearly 23 times larger than a property for small scale agriculture, which in the region would be 75 hectares;
Jamanxim Flona was the most deforested conservation area between 2012 and 2015. With the measure, deforestation in the region could increase more than twice by 2030, with an extra deforestation of 138,000 hectares and an emission of 67 million tons of carbon dioxide;
Within the 354,000 hectares, there are 312 environmental embargoes, which are the result of large operations led by the Brazilian government environment agency, Ibama, in the region. In other words, by granting land tenure regulation of these areas the Brazilian State further demoralizes its own public policy of deforestation control, awarding criminals with land.

The reduction of the Jamanxim Flona is an addition to other measures carried out by Temer and by the National Congress, which dismantle all the work carried out in the past years to reduce deforestation in the Amazon. By using the environment as a bargaining chip to maintain his position as president, Temer has favored land grabbers and large scale deforesters, and moves in the opposite direction of national policies and international commitments taken by Brazil for the protection of forests and climate.

Check the full technical note here

Press Offices

Greenpeace Brazil

Camila Rossi

[email protected]

(11) 3035-1167 / (11) 9-8152-8476

Ipam

Cristina Amorim

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(61) 2109-4150 / (61) 99127-6994

Imazon

Stefânia Costa