Brazil sets target to slow Amazon deforestation

David Ljunggren, Associated Press in Sao Paulo
The Guardian, Wednesday December 3 2008

Brazil plans to boost spending and programmes to significantly slow the rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest by 2017, aiming to reduce global warming by slashing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when trees are burned.
The plan, announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday, is the first time Brazil has set specific goals regarding deforestation reduction.
Environment minister Carlos Minc said the plan would slow the rate of destruction by 72% when compared with the 7,330 square miles lost on average each year between 1996 and 2005.
The new proposal would boost federal patrols of forested areas, replant forest, and finance sustainable development projects to give locals alternative work in areas where illegal logging dominates the economy.
"We need to offer help them with one hand, but with the other we have to tell them there will be punishment if they don't pay attention to environmental preservation," Lula said, without describing those penalties.
He did not say how much the plan would cost.
Deforestation - both the burning and rotting of Amazon wood - releases an estimated 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, making Brazil at least the sixth biggest emitter of the gas in the world.
The country slowed deforestation by 60% between 2005 and 2007, but officials said last week that destruction had accelerated slightly in the past year, as rising soy and beef prices prompt farmers to carve more fields and pastures from the rainforest.