The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil inherited, in its National Forest Program, a formidable proposal to increase the area designated to national forests (Flonas) in the Amazon from eight to 50 million hectares by the year 2010. This objective is an ambitious and worthy conservation goal, and one that appears to be holding approval, give or take a few million hectares, within the new government. Attached to this plan, however, is a lingering desire to allow private timber harvesting on Flonas through a system of forest concessions.
A Pathway to Zero Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (executive summary)
A Pathway to Zero Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (executive summary)
The document indicates the possible ways to end deforestation in the region, with environmental, economic and social benefits for the country. Prepared by the Zero Deforestation Working Group - composed of experts from the organizations Greenpeace Brazil, ICV, Imaflora, Imazon, IPAM, Instituto Socioambiental, WWF Brazil and TNC Brazil -, it has the most current scientific literature on forests, climate and agriculture. In the following sections, the main reasons why ZD is, more than possible, an inescapable need.