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A Plan to Privatize the Amazon? |
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By Mario Osava*
The
Brazilian government is considering giving private parties the right
to limited forestry exploitation in the Amazon. The parliamentary
debate on the issue promises to be a hot one.
It is not a matter of privatization, but rather one of ''consolidating
national sovereignty'' over the Brazilian Amazon, the Environment
Ministry's head of forests and biodiversity told Tierramérica.
RIO DE JANEIRO - The debate has taken some
absurd twists. There were rumors in the news media of a bill for
''privatizing'' the Brazilian Amazon, when the intention was just
the opposite: to halt the illegal appropriation of public lands
by private parties, a phenomenon that accelerates deforestation.
Ultra-nationalist groups allege that the legislative bill in question
-- which is still being drafted -- would hand over the Amazon to
foreign capital. But government officials say the proposed legislation,
which promises heated parliamentary debate, is intended to keep
Brazilian territory out of foreign hands.
It is a matter of ''consolidating national sovereignty over that
territory,'' Joao Paulo Capobianco, secretary of forests and biodiversity
for the Environment Ministry, told Tierramérica.
The bill proposes creating a legal framework for sustainable use
and management of forests belonging to the state, and involves three
approaches.
Two of the three are already known: the creation of conservation
units and community use of resources by Indians and other ''traditional''
residents of the area. The third and most contentious is the granting
of concessions to the private sector for limited forestry exploitation.
The Brazilian Amazon states cover more than five million square
kilometers. Of that area, 25 percent is already in private hands
and 29 percent is set aside for conservation units and indigenous
reserves, said Capobianco.
The draft bill states that the areas for logging concessions would
be chosen using ''strict filters'', criteria to ensure that exploitation
is sustainable, and would involve a gradual process, which in the
first 10 years would grant permits for no more than 20 percent of
the available land, said the official.
Logging would be regulated by policies that have proven effective
in tropical forests, with a limit of five or six trees per hectare,
in other words, three percent of adult trees, every 25 to 30 years,
Capobianco explained.
Any company operating in Brazil, even if based on foreign capital,
can bid on the concessions, and there will be no privatization,
because the ownership of the land will remain in the hands of the
public, he said.
The idea has been debated for several years, and most environmental
activists accept it in general terms, but have reservations on specific
issues and doubt about its implementation and regulation.
Outright condemnation has come from nationalists like Aziz Ab'Saber,
79, a respected geographer and environmentalist.
''I am against it. This is the beginning of a strategic plan to
occupy the Amazon, the beginning of its internationalization,''
Ab'Saber told Tierramérica.
The Environment Ministry has given in to ''foreign pressure'' and
adopted a model that ''will harm biodiversity and benefits the interests
only of entrepreneurs, mostly international ones,'' he said.
There are successful local experiences in the Amazon that could
be replicated in order to promote sustainable development and fight
deforestation, said the geographer.
Nevertheless, monitoring efforts and law enforcement have not halted
the destruction of more than 23 million hectares of forest per year,
cleared for farming. The burning of the Amazon is responsible for
three-quarters of Brazil's carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute
to global warming.
At the root of the problem is the chaotic legal situation of the
Amazon, where around half the land belongs to the state but there
are no registered titles, says Roberto Smeraldi, coordinator of
the non-governmental organization Friends of the Earth-Brazilian
Amazon.
The principal merit of the project is that it would force the state
to establish its ownership of that land, although it will take time
and will be a difficult task, Smeraldi said in a conversation with
Tierramérica.
Currently there is fraudulent privatization occurring, he said.
It is taking place under a rule that allows governmental agencies
to recognize ownership of up to 2,499 hectares of land for those
who possess the land de facto.
That favors land takeovers, often ''with violence and the expulsion
of small farmers,'' which expand the private dominion of land without
benefit for the state, the true owner of that territory, he added.
What's worse, he said, those who appropriate the land through fraud
like that usually destroy the forest, often by burning it, in order
to prove that they occupy it.
There are two basic reasons in favor of the proposed concession
mechanism, Smeraldi told Tierramérica.
First of all, 99 percent of the plans presented for sustainable
use of the Amazon's natural resources are rejected due to ''lack
of adequate documentation of ownership,'' and the existing legal
insecurity scares off entrepreneurs with ''good intentions'', attracting
instead those ''who are willing to do anything,'' he said.
The concessions would eliminate this hurdle and allow monitoring.
The second, he says, is that extended, renewable concessions would
stimulate long-term investment, that is ''if the concession holder
does a good job.''
But the proposed bill is lacking criteria and parameters for guarantees,
through some system of insurance, such as through the banking system,
that would permit immediate recovery of payment if the concession
holder does not meet its obligations, said the activist.
Furthermore, it entails a variable payment system from the concession
holders, based on the product they extract and the profits, when
a fixed price would promote more efficient use of resources, said
the Friends of the Earth director.
Some environmental activists fear that government control of the
concession holders would be as poor as it has been in other state-run
endeavors in the Amazon.
The project requires ''the effective presence of the Brazilian state''
as a power in the Amazon, according to international watchdog group
Greenpeace.
But Capobianco says there is little danger of the situation getting
out of control because the revenues from the concessions will help
pay for oversight bodies and inspectors.
Jean Pierre Leroy, of the environmental NGO Fase, says there is
no guarantee that the concessions will be economically viable, given
that sustainable use techniques can be more costly than illegal
logging.
But Environment Ministry official Tasso de Azevedo responds that
the concession holders will save money because they will not have
to purchase the land, and they will obtain raw materials with the
security of legality. They will also have access to credits for
equipment and will be able to make long-term plans for processing
lumber and capitalizing on byproducts, such as resins, oils and
fruits.
* Mario Osava is an IPS correspondent.
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