|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
|
|
Countries Appendix
BRAZIL (65.2%)
2004 Update | The Amazon Rainforest
|
Deforestation Figures for Brazil
|
Year | Deforestation
[sq mi] | Deforestation
[sq km] |
| | |
| 1978-1988* | 8158 | 21,130 |
| 1990 | 5,332 | 13,810 |
| 1991 | 4,297 | 11,130 |
| 1992 | 5,322 | 13,786 |
| 1993 | 5,950 | 15,410 |
| 1994 | 5,751 | 14,896 |
| 1995 | 11,219 | 29,059 |
| 1996 | 7,013 | 18,160 |
| 1997 | 5,034 | 13,040 |
| 1998 | 6,501 | 16,840 |
| 1999 | 6,663 | 17,259 |
| 2000 | 7,658 | 19,836 |
| 2001 | 7,027 | 18,130 |
| 2002 | 9,845 | 25,500 |
| 2003 | 9,343 | 24,130 |
All figures derived from official National
Institute of Space Research (INPA) figures
*For the 1978-1988 period the figures represent
the average annual rates of deforestation.
|
|
Brazil [Map] holds about one-third of the world's remaining rainforests, far more than any other country. Because these
forests cover such a huge areas of the Amazon rainforest, they are incredibly diverse and hold many of the world's
species and indigenous peoples. However the destruction of these vast forests has accelerated since 1970 (coinciding
with the construction of the Trans-Amazonian highway) when only 2.4% of the Amazon's forests had been lost. Today,
12-15% of Brazil's forest are gone, and each year roughly another 19,800 square kilometers (8,000 sq. miles) are
lost and another 11,000 square km (4,200 sq. miles) are degraded by logging beneath the forest canopy. The worst
period of destruction occurred from 1978 to 1990 when 5.4 million acres (8500 square miles or 22,000 square kilometers)
of forest were destroyed a year. From 1988 to 1991 there was a slowdown in the rate of deforestation attributed
to Brazil's unraveling economy and in 1992, 4,450 square miles of forest was cleared. In 1993 and 1994, rainforest
deforestation increased to 5,950 square miles (15,400 sq. km) per year, a 34% increase from 1992. The government
delayed releasing deforestation statistics for period for 1995 to 1997 until late January of 1998. The government
claimed that it needed extra time to process the satellite photos, though environmentalists speculate the government
delayed the release in order to save face at the Kyoto climate convention and while it petitioned G7 nations for
aid in Manaus in October 97. Hurting the government's claim was the report that the cost to analyze the 229 NASA
Landsat-5 satellite photos of the Brazilian Amazon was only $400,000. When the figures were released they showed
that in 1995 deforestation reached previously unrecorded levels. 11,219 square miles (29,059 square km), or about
1.3 square miles (3.4 square km) every hour, of Amazonian rainforest were cleared in 1995 due to the increased
presence of loggers, new agricultural projects, and increases in burning by settlers and plantation owners. In
1996, deforestation slowed to 7,013 square miles (18,161 square km), while 1997 figures, 80% complete, show 5,034
square miles (13,037 square km) disappeared. The 1997 figures do not include the widespread forest loss from fires
that burned in November and December. Based on preliminary reports, deforestation in the Amazon climbed 30% to
17,000 kilometers of forest in 1998. Disappearing even faster (twice as fast as the Amazon) are the severely endangered
Atlantic forests, which have been reduced to less than 3% of their original range.
Equally disturbing is the amount of virgin forest that is degraded every year. A separate congressional study found
that each year 22,393 square miles (58,000 km) of previously virgin forest is cleared or degraded by logging, fires
that burn under the canopy, and agricultural thinning.
In many tropical countries, the majority of deforestation results from the actions of poor subsistence cultivators.
However, in Brazil only about one-third of recent deforestation can be linked to "shifted" cultivators.
A large portion of deforestation in Brazil can be attributed to land-clearing for pastureland by commercial and
speculative interests, misguided government policies, inappropriate World Bank projects, and commercial exploitation
of forest resources. For effective action it is imperative that these issues be addressed. Focusing solely on the
promotion of sustainable use by local people would neglect the most important forces behind deforestation in Brazil.
Brazilian deforestation is strongly correlated to the economic health of the country: the decline in deforestation
from 1988-1991 nicely matched the economic slowdown during the same period, while the rocketing rate of deforestation
from 1993-1998 paralleled Brazil's period of rapid economic
growth. During lean times, ranchers and developers
do not have the cash to rapidly expand their pasturelands and operations, while the government lacks funds to sponsor
highways and colonization programs and grant tax breaks and subsidies to forest exploiters.
A relatively small percentage of large landowners clear vast sections of the Amazon for cattle pastureland. Large
tracts of forest are cleared and sometime planted with African savanna glasses for cattle feeding. In many cases,
especially during periods of high inflation, land is simply cleared for investment purposes. When pastureland prices
exceed forest land prices (a condition made possible by tax incentives that favor pastureland over natural forest),
forest clearing is a good hedge against inflation.
Such favorable taxation policies combined with government subsidized agriculture and colonization programs encourage
the destruction of the Amazon. Low taxes on income derived from agriculture and tax rates that favor pasture over
forest overvalues agriculture and pastureland and makes it profitable to convert natural forest for these purposes
when it normally would no be so.
In addition, the system of property rights is also at fault. While large landowners lay claim to the most productive
of Amazon floodplain soils, smaller farmers and squatters are forced to seeks out a marginal patch of land. Each
squatter acquires the right (known as an usufruct right) to continue using a piece of land by living on a plot
of unclaimed public land and "using" it for at least one year and a day. After five years the squatter
acquires ownership and hence the right to sell the land. Up until at least the mid-1990s this system was worsened
by the government policy that allowed each claimant to gain title for an amount of land up to three times the amount
of forest cleared.
Government settlement policies are also responsible for distributing tracts of primary forest to peasants farmers.
Between 1995 and 1998, the government granted land in the Amazon to roughly 150,000 families. 48% of forest loss
in 1995 was in areas under 125 acres (50 hectares) in size, suggesting that both loggers and peasants are significant
contributors to deforestation.
Virtually all this clearing, by small peasant farmer and plantation owner alike, is done by fire. Though these
fires are intended only to burn limited areas, these fires frequently escape agricultural plots and pastures and
char pristine rainforest. Many of the fires set for clearing forest for these purposes are set during the three
month burning season and the smoke produced creates widespread problems across the region, including airport closings
and hospitalizations from smoke inhalation. The fires increased by several hundred times from 1994 to 1995. Satellite
pictures reveal that in July 1994, 8,503 were apparent and in August 1994 61,000 fires were burning. In July 1995,
39,900 fires were detected (a 369% increase) while through the first 15 days of August 1995, 72,200 fires were
visible (projected 137% increase). In 1997, Amazon burning was up 17-28% over 1996 based on satellite data. These
fires cover a vast area of forest. In 1987 during a four month period (July-October), about 19,300 square miles
(50,000 sq. km) of Brazilian Amazon were burned in the states of Parà, Rondonia, Mato Grosso, and Acre.
The burning produced carbon dioxide containing more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tones of carbon
monoxide, and millions of tons of other particles and nitrogen oxides. An estimated 20% of fires that burn between
June and October cause new deforestation, while another 10% is the burning of ground cover in virgin forests.
A new seven year study suggests that the Amazon rainforest, the largest rainforest on Earth may be losing its ability
to stay green all year long as forest degradation and drought are making it dangerously flammable. Scientists say
that as much as 50% of the Amazon could go up in smoke should fires continue. Humidity levels were the lowest ever
recorded in the Amazon in late 1997 and early 1998. During the first three months of 1998, wildfires set by subsistence
farmers raged out of control across 13,200 square miles (34,000 square km) of Roraima state in Northern Brazil.
The dry conditions created by el Niño (only 1/25th of an inch of rain fell during a six month period) allowed
fires to advance from savanna into rainforest usually too humid to burn. The fires revealed Brazil's lack of coordination
and preparation for such disaster situations. As the fires began burning the forest in the indigenous Yanomani
Reserve, the government was still seeking a course of action. It had been more than two months since the government
had declared a state of emergency, and Roraima had still seen no firefighting funds. Finally, after a pledge of
support by the national government and a $5 million loan from the World Bank, 1700 firefighters (none of whom had
an experience in fighting wildfires in the Amazon) began fighting the blaze. The government also brought in water
carrying helicopters from Argentina. Still, the efforts were making very little headway against the stubborn fires.
In an act of desperation, the government tried an alternative: it flew in two Kaiapo shamans to perform a sort
of "rain dance." Coincidently or not, just hours after the rain dance, heavy showers blanketed Roraima
and extinguished 95% of the fires.
Brazil's rainforests have been affected by World Bank-sponsored projects like hydroelectric projects which flood
large tracts of forest and displace native peoples. The World Bank has sponsored several devastating road and agricultural
projects like the Polonoroeste project which opened up the virgin rainforests of Rondonia to more than a million
landless peasants.
Such roads are one of the greatest threats to Brazil's indigenous peoples since they promote the invasion of colonists
who practice small-scale gold mining and agriculture on indigenous lands. During the 1980's, over 100,000 prospectors
invaded the state of Para when a large gold deposit was discovered. The local natives, the Yanomani have been hit
hard by diseases brought by the colonists and outbreaks of violence with the miners. In addition to disease (Malaria
has affected 80% of the Yanomani and killed over 20% of the population), at least 28% of the Indian population
lacks a sufficient diet. The native Brazilian Yanomani population has fallen from an estimated 20,000 20 years
ago to less than 9,000 today. There are several verified accounts of the killings of at least 94 Yanomani by miners
in the last ten years. The Brazilian government formerly protected indigenous peoples by providing demarcation
their lands by 1993 in the 1988 Constitution According to the constitution, Brazil's 330,000 indians have land
rights to 11% of the country. However, the process has been slow and less than 40% of the lands have been demarcated.
In addition, in January 1996, President Cardoso signed Decree #1775 into law which allows commercial interests
to protest indigenous land titles. Loggers seeking Mahogany, now that most of the trees no longer exist in accessible
areas, have moved in on indigenous lands and allegedly had deadly conflicts with those who have interfered with
operations.
Other destructive practices include the establishment of military posts deep in rainforest areas. Besides initial
clearing for the buildings, surrounding forest areas are damaged by training maneuvers and soldiers' activities.
Much deforestation is caused by the construction of roads and highways that open up millions of acres to deforestation
by allowing access to previously inaccessible areas. Recently large tracts of forest have been cleared for agriculture,
notably soybean production. The government has also initiated projects to widen rivers for transporting soybeans.
With the internationalization of Antarctica in the late 1950s, Brazil became concerned over its tenuous claim to
the Amazon. To establish a "presence" in the Amazon, and therefore the right to keep it as part of the
national territory, Brazil established the Manaus Free Trade zone - a sort of tariff free manufacturing zone. In
the 1960s and 1970s, the government continued to see the region as having great potential that warranted massive
investment (hence the road-building, transmigration, and hydroelectric projects) resulting in ever more forest
loss.
Despite massive deforestation, Brazil has over 5.4 million acres (2.2 million hectares) of forest protected by
the reserve system, an experimental community-based sustainable development of rainforests. This system utilizes
local people to maintain the reserves and supports the traditional ways of thousands of Amerindians. In addition,
a strong rubber-tapper association promotes protection of the forest through sustainable development. Countless
environmental and conservation organizations have taken up the Brazilian rainforest cause and will continue to
work until all its remaining forests are safe. In 1997, Brazil created the world's largest block of protected rainforest
reserve, the Amana Sustainable Development Reserve, covering 22,000 square miles. In December 1997, the Brazilian
government pledged to protect 10% of its tropical rainforests by the year 2000, but environmentalists question
whether the government will commit to its goals with action and support. Most agree that while 10% is a start,
a much greater portion of the Amazon must be preserved. In 1999 WWF released a disturbing report that 75% of the
86 protected areas created more than six years ago are endangered by commercial and peasant threats. The report
suggests that Brazil needs to improve its monitoring of existing parks and reserves. Eco-tourism already provides
a large source of currency for the people of Brazil, and will continue to do so as long as the rainforests remain.
The government recently created 7 national forests for sustainable logging in an effort to reduce illegal tree
felling and slow deforestation. The plan turns 6.67 million acres of forest over to the government which it can
lease to loggers. WWF welcomed the move as a step towards making logging more manageable. The government also approved
the creation of the first sustainable logging project on indigenous lands. The project, partially funded by the
World Bank, permits the Xikrin tribe to selectively log 9% of its reservation over the next 40 years.
The Brazilian government is not overly eager to end many of these destructive practices because it needs a means
to service the interest payments on its US$94 billion external debt. Unfortunately the easiest way to fulfill payments
is to allow the exploitation of its most precious resource, its forest. The government is also caught between international
pressure to reduce deforestation and a powerful domestic lobby from large landowners, the logging industry, and
agricultural firms.
In July 1996 the government announced a series of measures to protect the rainforest including a moratorium on
new concessions to cut virola and mahogany, and a law forbidding Amazon landowners from cutting more than 20% of
the forests on their land, down from 50%. In July 1998, the government extended and strengthened the moratorium
on new permits for logging of mahogany and virola. The decision to restrict the mahogany trade is important because
the international demand for mahogany has been one of the driving forces behind the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Mahogany loggers have been responsible for thousands of miles of roads which open up inaccessible regions to exploitation
by hordes of colonists who move in along the roads. Nevertheless, Brazil has vast timber resources, but only makes
up 4% of the tropical timber market and many logging firms want a part of the action, even if it means breaking
some rules. IBAMA, Brazil's Environmental Protection Agency, has canceled more than 70% of the existing logging
permits, but illegal logging is rampant. IBAMA estimates that 80% of all logging in the Amazon is illegal, but
the agency only collects 6.5% of the fines it imposes. Logging of mahogany has become even more enticing now that
a single mahogany tree sells for $20,000 on the Brazilian black market, but the government has pledged to crack
down on the illegal logging. However it is extremely difficult to patrol such a great expanse of forest for illegal
loggers with just 80 IBAMA enforcement agents to patrol the whole Amazon. Brazilian courts have recently ruled
that IBAMA does not even have any legal authority to enforce the law. In addition, corruption is a major problem
with IBAMA, and documents were recently uncovered revealing an IBAMA conspiracy to circumvent the July 1996 moratoria
on virola and mahogany cutting. There is also some skepticism about the Amazonas state government commitment to
protecting Brazil's forest resources. For example, the current governor of the Amazonas state handed out chainsaws
during his election campaign and there are plans to carve two new states out of the large rainforested Amazonas
state. Several new highway projects threaten to open up more of the Amazon to logging and colonization and the
national government recently allocated $1.2 billion for a surveillance project that would locate minerals, ores,
and other natural resources hidden beneath the canopy.
Following the government's release of deforestation statistics for 1995 to late 1997, the Brazilian Congress finally
passed an environmental crimes bill seven years after it was submitted during the atmosphere of the 1992 Rio Summit.
Though the bill was widely criticized by green groups for being watered down to suit strong agricultural and logging
lobbies in Congress, the law is an important step in recognizing the gravity of Amazonian deforestation. Before
passing the bill, Congress striped it of articles that held shareholders responsible for environmental damages
inflicted by their companies, allowed NGOs to file suit against environmental offenders, provided sanctions against
biopiracy, and required "objective responsibility," an automatic liability of environmental offenders
to compensate victims prior to a conviction. Nevertheless, the bill established criminal penalties, with fines
up to $50 million, for damaging the environment and granted IBAMA the right to levy fines and prosecute offenders.
Prior to the new law, penalties for environmental offenses were decreed, not laid down by law, so they did not
hold up in court. There is a great deal of hope that this new law will slow Brazil's rampant illegal deforestation.
In March of 1998, the government announced it was taking steps to slow invasion of virgin forests by landless peasants
by changing its land reform policy. According to the new measures, the government will no longer grant land deeds
for settlements over 247 acres (100 ha) in size and will make an effort to move peasants to 77,200 square miles
of idle, already deforested land. In August 1999, Brazil announced a new joint operation between IBAMA and the
military to monitor and crack down on illegal logging and fires. Some 360 inspectors will be added to patrol the
Amazon.
In April 1998 president Cardoso announced an ambitious plan to protect 10% of the Amazon by 2000, safeguarding
another 62 million acres (25 million ha) of rainforest. WWF and the World Bank helped draft the initiative, and
the World Bank planned to give $30-40 million in funding. Nevertheless, many green groups were skeptical since
the land to be protected lies on rich mineral deposits, has mahogany, and is used for military operations.
The economic slowdown in late 1998 and 1999 forced Brazil to seek an IMF bailout. Under the terms of the $41.5
billion loan, Brazil must undertake austerity measures, including significant cuts for programs that monitor and
fight deforestation.
. . . . .
For current information I highly recommend trying the CIA and
FAO links below.
|
|
|
