Raymond Colitt, PlanetArk 1 Oct 08;
BRASILIA - The Brazilian government tops the list of the 100 largest illegal loggers in the Amazon rain forest and will face criminal charges, the Environment Ministry said on Monday.
The six largest deforested areas since 2005 all belong to the government Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform, or Incra, which distributes land to the poor. Together 223,000 hectares (550,000 acres) of the world's largest rain forest were destroyed on those six properties, as settlers chopped down trees to sell and plant crops.
"We're going to blow all 100 of them out of the water and then some," an irate Environment Minister Carlos Minc told a news conference, referring to plans to sue them.
Releasing the list of illegal loggers, he said the environment ministry will bring criminal charges against all of them.
Official data showed on Monday a renewed increase in the rate of deforestation. Some 756 square kilometers (292 square miles) were chopped down in August, twice the rate in July, the National Institute of Space Studies (Inpe) said.
"It was a terrible result," Minc said, blaming expanding cattle and farm activity, as well as land theft through the falsificaiton of property titles.
Minc had been celebrating a decline in deforestation rates in previous months as evidence that the government's conservation policies were working.
News that Incra topped the list of violators is likely to fuel the argument of large landowners that poor peasants are also to blame for the destruction of the Amazon.
Thousands of settlers live on the Incra properties, which for years have been part of a government policy to redistribute land to the poor. There was no immediate comment from Incra.
Other figures released by Minc on Monday showed that private land holders deforested more than three times as much as the Incra did between January and August of this year.
Farmers and cattle ranchers pushing deeper into the forest in search of cheap land are mostly to blame for deforestation, experts say.
The government will create an environmental police force with 3,000 heavily armed and specially trained officers to help combat deforestion, Minc said.
In the 12 months through July, deforestation totalled an estimated 12,000 square km (4,633 square miles), up from 11,224 square km (4,332 square miles) but down from a peak of 27,379 square km (10,570 square miles) in 2004.
(Reporting by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Brazilian government faces criminal charges over Amazon deforestation
Illegal logging increases sharply as rising food prices push soy farmers and cattle ranchers to clear more land
Angela Balakrishnan and agencies, guardian.co.uk 30 Sep 08;
The Brazilian government faces criminal charges after a report found that the Amazon rainforest is being deforested three times faster than last year as rising food prices encourages more illegal logging.
A study by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research found that destruction of the Amazon had increased 228% in August compared with the same month a year ago.
Carlos Minc, the Brazilian environment minister, said the upcoming national elections were partly to blame, with mayors in the Amazon region ignoring illegal loggers in the hope of gaining votes locally.
Environmental campaigners blamed the global spike in food prices for pushing soy farmers and cattle ranchers to clear more land for crops and grazing.
"The tendency of deforestation rising is deeply related to the fact that food prices are going up," said Paulo Adario, who coordinates Greenpeace's Amazon campaign. "When you have elections, the appetite of authorities to enforce laws is reduced. But the federal government has to step in and do its job."
The steep rise in deforestation is a sharp reversal after three years of decline in the rate of destruction.
Official data showed that some 300 square miles (756 square kilometres) were chopped down last month, twice the rate of July.
The minister released a list of the 100 worst individuals or companies responsible for most of the deforestation since 2005.
The Brazilian government's land and agrarian reform agency, Incra, was accused of being the worst.
Minc said the environment ministry will bring criminal charges against all of them. The government will also create an environmental police force with 3,000 heavily armed and specially trained officers to help combat illegal deforestion.
The institute, which uses satellite imagery to track down illegal logging, said the destruction was likely to be worse than figures show since no information was available for 26% of the Amazon because of cloud cover in August.
Greenpeace has accused Incra officials of illegally handing over rainforest to logging companies and creating fake settlements to skirt environmental regulations.
Minc said Incra was responsible for destroying 220,150 hectares (544,000 acres) of the world's largest rainforest in the past three years.
The news that Incra topped the list of violators is likely to fuel the argument of large landowners that poor peasants are to blame for the destruction of the Amazon. One of Incra's duties is to distribute land to the poor.
There was no immediate comment from Incra.
Most of the remainder of Minc's list comprises Brazilian farmers and ranchers.
