Dec 10, 2009
Brazil Launches Program Designed To Reduce Deforestation
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
In recent months, the Brazilian government has announced a series of programs designed to reduce the amount of deforestation occurring in the Amazon Region. Since deforestation is the primary source of greenhouse gases being emitted from Brazil, the government sees the reduction of deforestation as their primary tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The latest program announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes, and the governor of the state of Para, involves monitoring cattle ranchers on the eastern edge of the Amazon Forest. The state of Para, which is the second largest state in Brazil, contains the eastern extent of the Amazon River including its mouth. As a comparison, the state of Para equals the size of Texas, California, and Louisiana combined. State officials have been roundly criticized by environmentalists as being too lax in enforcing environmental laws designed to reduce deforestation.
The issue of cutting the forest in order to expand cattle ranching was pushed to the forefront last June when three large supermarket chains in Brazil, including Wal-Mart, announced that they would no longer purchase beef if it came from ranches suspected of illegal deforestation. Their goal was to give financial incentives to the ranchers to save the forest instead of cutting it down. If the ranchers could not sell their cattle, then maybe they would not cut the forest. The program was modeled after a similar program instituted by the grain companies several years ago to not buy any soybeans from areas that were suspected of being illegally cleared.
The pilot program announced this week involves 19,000 privately owned properties spread over six municipalities in the state. These landowners account for about 4 million head of cattle. Each property would be monitored electronically for any potential illegal deforestation. Individual ranches were surveyed using GPS and the information was incorporated into a database maintained by the Brazilian National Weather Service. In conjunction with Embrapa, satellite photos were taken of each property to establish a baseline of forest cover. In July of 2010, new photos will be taken and analyzed to see if any additional cutting has occurred during the prior six months. The agencies involved have the capacity to detect deforestation down to an area the size of one hectare or 2.5 acres. If a rancher cleared additional forest illegally, he would not be permitted to sell any cattle. If he maintained the forest, he would then be allowed to sell his cattle.
The state of Para has already gps-surveyed 50,000 properties in the state and hopes to have all 80,000 properties in the state surveyed by the end of 2010. By the end of 2011, the federal government hopes to have all the properties in Mato Grosso and Rondonia included in the program. These three states, Para, Mato Grosso, and Rondonia encompass the eastern and southern edge of the Amazon Forest.
In addition to the federal and state governments, many other groups in Brazil are involved in this effort including The Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras), the meatpacking companies of Bertin and JBS-Friboi, the National Development Bank (BANDS), the Agricultural Federation of Para, the National Weather Service, and Embrapa.