Program to combat deforestation reaches historical results

The Director of the Ministry of Environment’s Deforestation Combat Department, Mauro Pires, shows how the Brazilian government has achieved historic reductions in deforestation in the Amazon and has 25 million hectares of federal protected areas, equivalent to the total area of the United Kingdom

Which strategies from the Action Plan for Preservation and Control of Deforestation of the Legal Amazon contributed for the historical decrease of deforestation?

It is the result of a coordinated action of the Federal Government. The historical decrease of deforestation, estimated in 7 thousand km2 in the period between August 2008 and July 2009, is the lowest rate in the last 21 years, since the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) started to monitor the Amazon. If we compare to the previous period (2008), we verify that 45% of the forest stopped being cut in 2009. The proportion is even bigger if we compare to the 2004 rate, in other words, we had a reduction of 75%

This data shows that we are in the right path, and that the Plan has been complying with its objective of immediate and gradual reduction of illegal deforestation in the Amazon. We advanced significantly in monitoring and control actions and creation of protected areas. Gradually we are seeing that these actions contribute for the decrease of the deforestation.

Certainly we advanced in the monitoring, since before that we only had the system which measures the annual rate. Now, we have three systems: one which sends alerta of deforestation, another which measures stages of forestry degradation and, finally, the system which monitors forestry management, creation of logging areas and glades in the middle of the forest.

" The government toughened the control to the Amazon destroyers, requiring environmental and agrarian regularity in the biome." Mauro Pires

There was a strengthening of the structure of the federal environmental agency responsible for monitoring?

The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural and Renewable Energy hired new environmental analysts and its budget for control was doubled, which allowed the investment in the capacity building of fiscals and the acquisition of modern equipments and new vehicles. Another important strategy was the creation of the Environmental Monitoring Center, a kind of a “situation room” that follows up on a daily basis the deforestation in the Amazon and keeps the field teams informed about the appearance of new deforestation points for verification purposes. From 2004 to 2008, 649 control operations were executed, totalizing R$ 7.2 billions in fines, 864 thousand m3 of confiscated timber and around 600 thousand hectares of embargoed areas.

In the field of fomentation to productive activities, what are the main results?

We had the approval of a new legal milestone for public forests (Bill 11.284/06), which allows forests to be put under a concession regime, with rules that ensure that they will be managed without greater damages. As a result of this bill, the first areas located in the interior of the Jamari National Forest, in Rondônia have already been bidden. There has been also the creation of the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of the Biodiversity as part of the strategy to strengthen the federal conservation units, which, thanks to the Plan, have been increased in over 25 millions hectares until 2008. Only to give an idea, these new units are equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom, formed by North Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The government has also toughened the control to the Amazon destroyers in what concerns the rural credit, requiring environmental and agrarian regularity in the biome. In this context, it has been established a list of the 43 priority municipalities, responsible for 55% of the whole deforestation in the area, which got forbidden to authorize new cuts of forests in their rural properties, and became target of the Operations Fire Arch and Amazon Guardians. Economic sectors, which products could be linked to the illegal deforestation, especially in the case of cattle, were punished.

The land issue is a big challenge. The government is cracking down on illegal sale of land?

The National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) already inhibited over 60 thousand titles of rural properties in the Amazon. This means that without this title the owner can not commercialize of transfer the rural property. More recently, the integration of the Legal Land Project and the Green Arch Operation is taking the agrarian regularization for those who live in federal public lands, in a pacific way. In the regularization bill, environmental conditionalities were ensured, such as, the legal registration of the legal reserve, its maintenance and recovery. The execution of the Ecological-Economic Zoning, which in addition to count with the support of several federal organisms and ministries, involved the state governments. With the zoning, the Government has in hands a comprehensive study that presents the areas with potentiality and limitations for the agriculture, cattle, forestry, extractive activities and the environmental preservation.

Actions of command and control are not enough to repress the deforestation in the long term. How does the Government intend to make the transition for a development model adequate to the region?

The component of fomentation to the productive activities is getting stronger. So far 10 extractive products were included in the minimal price policy, but we need to advance more.

To fill in part of this gap, the Government sent to the National Congress the bill that creates the National Program of Payment for Environmental Services. This bill is the fundamental condition so that owners that promote the conservation of the forest, Cerrado (Brazilian Savanah), Caatinga and of the whole nature could be financially compensated.

Furthermore, we need new credit lines that are compatible to the conditions of the new activities that promote the sustainability. For instance, without a differentiated credit, it is unlikely that the forest management, which implies an initial greater investment, competes with predatory practices.

It is worth mentioning that the Circulation of Goods and Services Tax (ICMS) applied for the forest management is higher than for the cattle and soy production. This has to change. And that is why our partnership with the Ministry of Finance and the state governments is fundamental so the economic distortions do not indirectly promote the deforestation.

Regarding the settlements. Does the Government offer technical assistance?

In the case of the settlements, we need to have a wide program of environmental regularization, in such a way that their image is not associated to the illegal deforestation in the Amazon. The familiar agriculture should count with a technical assistance with practical notions of environmental sustainability, avoiding damage, as well as waste and degradation of the rural areas. This implies the change of the production paradigm. It is already proved that the farming in the Amazon can not be the same one as in the South of the country. This explains why the investment in science and technology is fundamental.

The aim is the building of a long term commitment that promotes the change from a predatory productive model to a sustainable productive model that value the standing forest, with life quality and citizenship. I would like to call the attention to the fact that the deforestation in these municipalities decreased 7% minimum and we hope that this decrease is combined with improvements of the social indicators and generation of jobs and income.

December 14, 2009