Against A Trend Towards Conservation In Latin America, Brazil Erodes Forestry Laws

Last week, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld major changes to laws protecting the Amazon rainforest.

While farmers say the changes will give producers confidence to boost the economy, the reform package includes an amnesty program that scraps penalties to illegal deforestation that took place before 2008. It also revises requirements to landowners to restore forestry in their terrains, effectively reducing the amount of area that should be restored in the Amazon forest by an area the size of Italy. 

Environmentalists are rightly criticizing the measure as a prize to those who have damaged the environment, and as a reward to Brazil's powerful agriculture lobby. 

Latin American Neighbors Step Up Conservation

Brazil's decision comes at a surprising time as other Latin American countries are trying to protect vital ecosystems, as William Naylor explained a few weeks ago in Global Americans.

In Chile, for example, the government added more than 9 million acres to create five new national parks and expand another three. The measure meant the Chilean national park system grew by over 40% and creates protected ecosystems for numerous threatened species. 

Peru established the Yaguas National Park, a 2 million acre area of Amazon rainforest in the northeast of the country. Colombia, too, has more than doubled its protected line since 2010, and Argentina opened three national parks in the last five years. 

Leadership to protect ecosystems and promote conservation are crucial in Latin America, which faces considerable challenges related to climate change and should improve governance in natural resource management. Brazil's move is a short-sighted exception to the trend, and it will cause much damage to the world's largest tropical rainforest.