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Soybean plantation in southern Brazil

In a public hearing of the special committee to review proposals for new Environmental and Forestry Codes on Tuesday (24th), the Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, took a more flexible policy stance and praised the Brazilian agricultural sector.

The special commission was established to examine Bill No. 1876/99 and five other proposals that are being dealt with together (PLs 4524/04, 4395/08, 5020/09, 5226/09 and 5367/09). The original bill, put forward by former Deputy Sergio Carvalho, proposes a new Forestry Code, replacing the current one (Law No. 4771/65). The debate was proposed by Deputies Edson Duarte (PV-BA) and Homero Pereira (PR-MT).

Compliments
According to the Minister, Brazil will take to the climate convention in Copenhagen, Denmark, an important contribution in terms of agriculture. He recalled that the agricultural, environmental and land reform sectors of the government have already established points of consensus to reform the Forestry Code, and he quoted the examples of wetlands, hillsides and the composition of the legal reserve outside the rural property.

Currently, also according to the Minister, agriculture ranks second among the activities that contribute most to the reduction of pollutants. This has occurred through three routes: direct tillage, integration of farming with livestock, and land recuperation. In the first place comes the reduction of deforestation by 7,000 km2 last year.

Tolerance
The committee's rapporteur, Deputy Aldo Rebelo (PCdoB-SP), noted that now the Minister is "more tolerant and flexible" in relation to the reality of the rural areas in Brazil. At recent public hearings in some states, Aldo Rebelo said he was "appalled and shocked" by what he saw in Rondônia, Pará and Mato Grosso.

According to Rebelo, local people are terrified by environmental laws, which place restrictions on producers that make them lawbreakers and therefore unable to get credit. He said that legislation must not protect the small producer and lead the large ones into bankruptcy. "The law can not do away with agricultural production because this could create a movement of political dissatisfaction," he said.

Reality
In response to the Deputy, the Minister noted that the Environmental Code was not a proposal of the environmental movement, since it is 44 years old. He said he agrees with the issues raised by Aldo Rebelo, because he knows the situation that exists in these states. "We do not intend to do away with the large-scale producers with environmental laws," said Minc.

Stressing that his ministry does not want to restrict production, he stated that the areas of legal reserves and permanent preservation are not untouchable, as most people think, but places conceived to give more sustainability to local production.

Carlos Minc said the Government will issue a decree in the coming weeks, extending the deadline for the registration (inscription in a notary’s office) of the legal reserves in the whole country, the term of which would expire on December 11th.

"Nightmares"
The minister criticized, on the other hand, the amnesty for loggers and said the government has not agreed to put an end to the status of the legal reserves. He does not accept, either, the total regionalization of environmental definitions, as occurred recently in the state of Santa Catarina, which reduced the area of legally preserved riparian vegetation in the state. "None of these three nightmares will be in the Federal Government’s proposals," said Minc.

Reporting - Eduardo Tramarim / The Chamber’s Radio Station/ RT
Translation – Rejane Xavier