Several states in Brazil are trying to rid themselves of rainforest protections, bowing to pressures from cattle ranchers and soybean growers to cut forest and expand agriculture as much as possible.
FILE - Cattle walk along an illegally deforested area in an extractive reserve near Jaci-Parana, Rondonia state, Brazil , July 12, 2023. BRASILIA, Brazil — Several states in Brazil are trying to rid themselves of rainforest protections, bowing to pressure from cattle ranchers and soybean growers to cut down trees and expand agriculture.
Brazil’s nine Amazonian states are crucial for preserving forest. Together, they manage almost 220,000 square miles of conservation lands and 12,600 square miles of public forests that have no protective designation, a total area roughly the size of Ukraine.
Veronez, a cattle rancher who migrated from Brazil’s Southeast to Acre, argues that forests don’t generate income and they occupy land that could be used for agriculture. “That hectare of forest — there is soil underneath it. If we cannot remove the forest, we cannot produce,” he said.Passage of the legislation prompted Acre Environment Secretary Julie Messias to resign. “The new legislation poses serious risks and may not be constitutional,” Messias said.
Rondonia state prosecutor Pablo Viscardi said the fires are the work of people who want to gain legal title to the land. They “use forest fires to ‘consolidate’ the land-grabbing and/or prevent the regeneration of areas they were expelled from,” he told the AP.
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