Amazon Rainforest Plan: Selective Logging Salvation for the “Lungs of the World”
Brazil has announced a plan to greatly increase the territories where it will grant concessions for the selective logging of the Amazon rainforest.
In Brazil, vast tracts of forest land are designated as state-owned, but are not protected and are vulnerable to looting and illegal logging.
Criminals often take over land and clear it to the ground, hoping that the state will recognize them as owners, which usually happens.
“The main goal of forest concessions is to preserve these areas. Concessions also create jobs and generate income in parts of the Amazon that would otherwise have little economic activity,” said Renato Rosenberg, director of forest concessions for the Brazilian Forestry Service.
Companies that receive concessions must follow strict rules: they can cut down up to six trees per hectare over 30 years. Protected species, such as the Brazil nut, and older trees are prohibited from cutting.
The idea is that such limited permits lead companies to monitor the forest, which the Brazilian government cannot afford.
310,000 square kilometers of rainforest
Several studies show that illegal logging in concession areas is significantly lower than outside them. The president of Brazil, Luiz Inasio Lula da Silva, plans to cover as much as 310,000 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest in this way, which is an area the size of Italy.
So far in Amazonia there are 22 such areas of more than 13,000 square kilometers. Since Brazil introduced such concessions, only two companies have refused to renew their leases.
The National Forum of Forestry Activities, which represents about 3,500 companies interested in the wood industry, greeted the announcement with skepticism.
“Forest management is the best way to stop environmental crime – from land grabbing to illegal logging,” said Frank Almeida, president of the National Forum, who, however, doubts the plan will come to fruition.
Source: Beta
Photo: Pixabay
Source: bizlife.rs
