Posted on 01 July 2009
- Brasília, Brazil – Conservationists
worry that further deforestation will follow
from Brazil now allowing squatting on Amazon
land – regulations that encompass parcels
equal to the combined size of Germany and
Italy.
President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva late last week signed into
law new land regulations covering 67 millions
hectares that are occupied without proper
ownership documentation. However, some mechanisms
inserted by the National Congress into this
law open the way for possible fraud and
do not contain strong enough conservation
guidelines, which could lead to further
cutting down of the Amazon.
Concerned with these
consequences of the law, Brazilian NGOs,
including WWF-Brazil, conducted intense
lobbying to push President Lula to veto
the added mechanisms.
WWF-Brazil supports
the land regulation and believes it is essential
to ensure property to family scale farmers
dwelling in the region, if enforced with
social and environmental responsibility.
But some aspects of
the law may lead to an inappropriate occupation
of Amazon’s lands. For example, the provision
allowing the selling properties of more
than 400 hectares after three years could
stimulate the market for land in the region
without necessarily improving the production
of food or guarantees against deforestation.
Overall, the law does
not establish preventive actions against
future land occupation and deforestation,
said Claudio Maretti, WWF-Brazil's Conservation
Director.
The new law also includes:
• Expanding the maximum size of areas that
can be legalized and regulated, from 100
to 1,500 hectares
• Rejecting government inspection of land
• Allowing lands exceeding 400 hectares
to be sold to someone else just three years
after being legalized, which will stimulate
the land market in Amazon
"We need to sensitize
lawmakers and the government in order to
bring Brazil to a position of leadership
concerning sustainable development,” said
Denise Hamú, WWF-Brazil's CEO.
While WWF-Brazil applauded
Lula’s decision to prohibit the transfer
of Amazon's public lands to private companies
and the indirect exploitation through an
intermediary, the government still needs
to clarify how it will prevent deforestation
on these areas.
"The debate about
climate changes and the struggle against
deforestation – the main cause of greenhouse
gas emissions of Brazil -- is a global concern,
and we are witnessing several natural catastrophes
in the country”, Maretti said. “We need
actions to encourage an environmentally
responsible economy, more protection to
the Amazon forest and benefits to local
communities, as the creation of sustainable
use reserves and real concession of the
use to those who live in the reserves.”
+ More
G8 fails on climate
goals. Again.
Posted on 01 July 2009
- The report carried out by Ecofys for WWF
and Allianz SE ranks the top eight industrialized
countries and five major developing countries
according to their climate change policy.
Only five months ahead
of crucial climate talks in Copenhagen,
the 2009 edition of the annual WWF-Allianz
G8 climate scorecards shows that while some
efforts had been made, action remains insufficient
to set the world on a low carbon economy
course.
The report states the
lack of a clear leader among the ranked
nations and while Germany has slightly improved,
countries such as Canada and Russia have
completely failed to pass the test.
In the foreword of the
report, James Leape, the head of WWF and
Allianz board member Joachim Faber urged
the nations to take action now and help
seal a good deal in Copenhagen.
“While there might be
a bailout possibility for the financial
system, no amounts of money will save the
planet once climate change crosses the danger
threshold,” Mr. Leape and Mr. Faber wrote.
“It is therefore crucial to limit the rise
of global temperature to below two degrees
compared to pre-industrial levels.”
The G8 Climate Scorecards
2009 measure countries’ performance and
trends in areas such as development of greenhouse
gas emissions since 11000, the distance
to their Kyoto-targets, their share of renewable
energies and the efficiency of their climate
policies.
The evaluation is based
on their progress and improvement made since
11000, is looking at the current status
of emissions and the intended policies for
the future.
According to the report,
Germany, the United Kingdom and France have
already achieved their Kyoto targets - but
their long-term climate performance is not
adequate to limit the global temperature
rise below two degrees Celsius.
Climate initiatives
so far planned or announced by the Obama-administration
have helped the USA climb from the last
rank to seventh place.
Canada and Russia which
are at the bottom of the rank either do
not have political plans to change this
development or do not implement them.
Within the framework
of the global WWF-Allianz partnership, Allianz
in its position as an international finance
service provider supports the G8 Climate
Scorecards to better understand the consequences
of climate change. That is vital for the
investment and regulatory framework conditions
that have to be adapted to the consequences
of climate change as well as for the development
of new climate compliant products and financial
solutions.
Joachim Faber, board
member of Allianz SE says: “A low carbon
future holds growth potential for G8 countries
as well as for emerging nations. Future
investments and product development therefore
require a sustainable political framework.”
