The Brazilian government revealed on Monday how it plans to meet its commitment to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, by strengthening law enforcement against environmental crimes and other measures in the world’s largest rainforest.
First modification:
Under far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil joined a pact in 2021 with more than 140 countries to end deforestation globally by 2030.
Leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office on January 1, has made it a centerpiece of his environmental policy. “I promise to resume Brazil’s world leadership in climate change mitigation and deforestation control,” Lula said in a speech at the project launch event.
The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) establishes a coordinated policy among more than a dozen ministries until the end of Lula’s term in 2027.
It calls for greater use of intelligence and satellite imagery to track criminal activity, the regularization of property titles, and the use of a rural registry to monitor the proper management of forests considered vital to curbing global climate change.
Degraded forests will be recovered and native vegetation will be increased through economic incentives for conservation and sustainable forest management, the plan says.
Among the actions to be taken, the authorities will cross-check information from the financial system with the rural registry and other databases and satellite images to eradicate illegal loggers and ranchers.
Financial intelligence can, for example, pinpoint cash movements to pay for equipment such as chainsaws for logging or bulldozers for illegal gold mining. The plan also calls for the creation of a tracking system for timber, livestock and other agricultural products from the Amazon, at a time when importing countries are increasingly demanding proof that they do not come from deforested land.
It also seeks to develop a green economy to sustain the Amazon region without deforestation, which will include the certification of forest products, technical assistance to producers, provision of infrastructure, energy and internet connection, and the promotion of ecotourism.
Lula also said that his Executive intends to announce a new set of measures to combat crimes such as illegal logging, illegal mining, hunting and fishing in indigenous territories, environmental protection areas and in the Amazon as a whole.
*With Reuters; adapted from its original in English
