Brazilian Forest Code

The Brazilian Forest Code is a piece of legislation passed in 1965. There has been controversy over the code, mostly centered on legal requirement for landowners in the Brazilian Amazon to maintain 80% of forests as legal reserves. This particular requirement has never been effectively implemented and implementation has again been delayed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva until June 2011.

The original law, passed in 1965, required only 50%. Neither this nor the 80% requirement have ever been prosecuted. This had been expected to change with harsher and criminal penalties to be introduced in 2009. Then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva however, delayed this until the post election period in 2011, though Presidential Decree number 7029.[1]

While the measure has never been formally adopted into law it has been estimated that other Government policies have reduced logging from 21.5 thousand square kilometers in 2002 to 7.0 thousand in 2009.

The code remains an enduring source of controversy for environmentalists and agriculturalists.[2]

Dilma vetoed 12 parts and made 32 smaller cuts to the rewrite in May 2012.[3][4]

On 28 February 2018, Brazil's Supreme Court upheld forestry law changes which comes as a blow to environmentalists trying to protect the world's largest rain forest.[5] According to environmentalists, the revised laws which are also known as the forest code, would give a rise to illegal deforestation.[6] Whereas the farmers and the agricultural lobby welcomes the new law and suggest that it is going to be pivotal for the growth of agricultural sector of the Brazilian economy.

Further reading

References
  1. "FOREST CODE PROVOKES HEATED DEBATE BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND FARMERS". WikiLeaks. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  2. Herbert, S. (3 July 2010) Herbert, Sian (2010-07-03). "Fate of the Amazon hangs in balance". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
  3. Romero, Simon (May 25, 2012). "Brazil: President Vetoes Major Parts of Bill to Open Up Forests". The New York Times.
  4. The president’s effort to balance the claims of forests and farms has satisfied few. An opportunity to promote sustainable farming may be missed. The Economist, June 2, 2012
  5. "Brazil court upholds forestry law changes in blow to environmentalists". Reuters. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  6. "Brazil's Amazon protection laws invite deforestation – NGO". The Guardian. Reuters. 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2018-03-01.

In Portuguese


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