Archived press release

Promise to protect amazon contradicted

15 December 1997

Controversy surrounds Brazil's commitment, made yesterday in a letter to Prince Philip, to protect 10% of the Amazon rainforest.

While Friends of the Earth welcomes the commitment in principle, Dr Eduardo Martins, the head of Brazil's government environment agency IBAMA, said in a meeting with NGOs, the timber trade and members of the press yesterday, that logging would be allowed within at least some of the 10% of “protected” forest.

The commitment to “attain protection of at least 10% of its forests by the year 2000" was made in a letter from the Brazilian Ambassador to London delivered to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, in his role as President Emeritus of WWF International, during the state visit of the Brazilian President, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to the UK. At a press conference this morning, the President was unable to clarify what the “protection” would really mean.

Dr Martins stated that National Forests, where logging can take place, would make up part of the 10% target, and was unable to say how much forest would be completely set aside from logging.

Dr Martins also claimed that there are indications that deforestation in the Amazon is slowing, whilst the first figures released for 1995-6, for Rondonia state, show an increase in annual deforestation rate of 69% compared with 1994 [1]. The release of deforestation figures for the rest of the country have been inexplicably delayed [2], much to the concern of Friends of the Earth International, who fear a cover-up. Latest satellite data also shows an increase of 50% in fires in the Amazon in July-November this year compared with the same period last year [3].

Dr Martins also said at the meeting that sustainable management of forests would involve biodiversity loss. This is in contrast to the commonly understood definition of sustainable management, which stresses the maintenance of biodiversity.

Dr Georgina Green, Senior Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said:

“The Brazilian government must immediately end the confusion caused by Dr Martins and clarify what this commitment to protect 10% of the Amazon really means. They should also release the deforestation figures immediately. The lack of clear answers and the attempts to mislead people in the UK by Dr Martins are a cause for great concern, and destroy any faith in, and credibility of, the government's ability to tackle the huge problems they face in protecting the Amazon rainforest.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Landsat satellite images from INPE (National Institute for Space Research) for the state of Rondonia showed 4,410.79 km2 was deforested per year in 1995-1996, compared to 2,595 km2 per year for the period 1992-1994, an increase in annual deforestation rate of 69%.

[2] INPE's deforestation figures for the whole country for 1995-1996 were originally scheduled for release in November 1996, over a year ago. After several delays, the Brazilian President announced at a meeting of the Planofloro project in Manaus in October 1997 that the figures would be available at the end of November 1997. However, two days before the visit of President Cardoso to the UK, the government announced that the figures would be delayed once again. There is no clear statement on when they will be available.

[3] Data from The NOAA-12 satellite recorded 29,571 fires in the Amazon region on 136 days between July 1, 1996 and November 30, 1996 and 44,734 fires on 118 days between July 1, 1997 and November 22, 1997, an increase of over 50% from 1996 to 1997, even though data are available for fewer days in 1997 than in 1996.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust