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End the Violence, Save the Amazon
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Progressive Portal
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Mar 08, 2005 18:15 PST
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LULA HAS ANNOUNCED CRACKDOWN AND NEW FOREST RESERVES, BUT
HIS CALL FOR "SLOWDOWN IN AMAZON DESTRUCTION" REMAINS VAGUE
[From Forests.org <http://forests.org>]
The recent shooting death of 73-year-old American nun Dorothy Stang has
focused renewed international attention on Brazil's vast Amazon
rainforest region, where unchecked fraud and violence are leading to
deforestation and unsustainable development. Already an area the size of
France - almost 20 percent of the area's 1.6 million square miles - has
been lost to logging, farming and development. In recent years, clearing
has advanced at a record pace, at the expense of indigenous people and
other small farmers, peasants, and migrant workers. Illegal loggers,
backed by private militias and gunmen, typically start the process;
behind them come ranchers, farmers, settlers, and now soy growers, who
are leading Brazil's drive to increase agricultural exports but at the
same time turning much of the once-lush landscape into a wasteland.
Stang, who had worked in Brazil for decades defending the rights of
rural workers and the cause of rainforest conservation, was one of about
1,400 people who have died in deforestation-related violence in the
Amazon since 1985. Her brazen assassination forced Brazilian President
Inacio Lula da Silva to promise a crackdown on violence and land
grabbing and a "slowdown in Amazon destruction." He has stepped up
creation of environmental-protection areas, promised protection for
communities in conflict regions, and deployed military troops to block
the advance of the illegal loggers and farmers.
CONTINUED BELOW ...
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Welcome as these actions are, it's not yet clear that Lula is ready to
make the long-term policy changes the situation requires. In particular,
he has yet to define what constitutes a "slowdown" in deforestation. In
the past the Brazilian government has sometimes claimed credit for
reductions in the rate of increase of deforestation, but simply slowing
the acceleration of a process that's already occurring at a dangerously
rapid rate is no victory - only a reduction in the absolute amount of
forest lost can be deemed a success. It's particularly worrisome that
the government continues with the Avanca Brasil program, a $40-billion
project to build a network of highways, dams, power lines, ports, mines,
oil fields, and gas concessions, which is expected to open as much as a
third of the remaining Amazon to logging and development.
Write to President Lula da Silva to express your appreciation for the
steps he has already taken to end the violence and slow the destruction
in the Amazon, and urge him to take stronger steps to reduce the rate of
deforestation.
Take Action
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Send a message to Lula at:
http://forests.org/action/brazil
More Information
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A fact sheet on deforestation in the Amazon:
http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html
Rainforest Action Network:
http://www.ran.org
Amazon Watch:
http://www.amazonwatch.org
Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples:
http://www.amazonalliance.org
Additional information:
http://forests.org/brazil
http://www.rainforestweb.org
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