08/06/2010
Data from the National
Institute for Space Research (INPE) released
on Monday (June 7) by the Minister of the
Environment, Izabella Teixeira, indicate
a 48% drop in Amazon deforestation between
August 2009 and April 2010, compared to
the same previous period.
Despite the drop registered
in the months of March and April 2010, deforestation
was 49 km² greater than in the same
months of last year. To the minister, this
increase is due to the reduction in the
amount of clouds covering the Amazon region.
This year, the visibility of the forest
was about 25% higher than last year.
The Interministerial
Commission to Fight Environmental Crimes
and Offenses (CICCIA) begins this week to
implement a plan to curb Amazon deforestation
during the period of the year with a greater
tendency to deforestation due to reduced
rainfall in the North Region.
In seven years, Pantanal
has lost 2.82% of its total area
Between the years 2002
and 2008, an area of 4,279 km² was
deforested, which is equivalent to 2.82%
of the biome's total area (151,313 km²).
The average annual rate of deforestation
reported in these seven years was 713 km²,
or 0.47%. The third Brazilian biome to have
its monitoring data released, the Pantanal
registered the second highest deforestation
rate during the same period (2002-2008).
The highest deforestation rate was registered
in the Cerrado.
The mapping of the deforested
area was conducted by IBAMA, which only
took into account the limits of the Pantanal
biome, disregarding the area of the Upper
Paraguay River Basin, because the source
of the Paraguay River is in the area of
the Cerrado.
According to Izabella,
among the main causes for deforestation
in the Pantanal are charcoal production
and expansion of areas for pasture. The
minister explained that the creation of
new Protected Areas in the region would
be a good way to curb deforestation, but
according to her, the Federal Government
still lacks detailed studies for this proposition.
The Pantanal is the
third Brazilian biome to have its deforestation
monitored. Soon, the deforestation rates
of the Pampa and of the Atlantic Forest
will be presented by the MMA. It is expected
that, by the end of this year, data from
all the Brazilian biomes for the period
2008-2009 will be released.
+ More
Minister explains proposals
to be presented at COP-10 in Nagoya, in
October
10/06/2010
The Brazilian minister of the Environment,
Izabella Teixeira, explained yesterday (June
9) in a session at the House of Representatives,
in Brasília, the proposals Brazil
will present at the United Nations Conference
on Biological Diversity, to be held in October
in Nagoya (Japan). The minister said that
the main objectives of the conference are:
conservation of biological diversity; responsible
and sustainable use of its components; and
the equitable sharing of benefits arising
from genetic heritage with traditional communities,
which is the main point defended by Brazil
and other 16 mega-diverse countries.
"We will try to
establish compulsory obligations by the
signatories of the UN Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) around the actual goals
in order to mitigate the loss of biodiversity.
The goal by 2020 is to halt the causes that
trigger this loss", said the minister.
According to Izabella,
the international mobilization around the
conservation of biodiversity is not the
same as that which exists around the climate
issue. She stressed that the challenges
faced nearly 20 years after Rio-92 have
not been defeated. According to the third
edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook
report (GBO3), recently launched by the
UN, no country has fully complied with the
targets agreed under the CBD.
The session at the House
of Representatives was held in order to
clarify the political position of the Brazilian
government regarding the issue of biodiversity,
considered essential to the sustainability
of the country and the planet. Representatives
of civil society, the productive sector,
government agencies and members of the Parliamentary
Environmentalist Front took part in the
event.
