An agreement between Brazil's ministries of Agriculture and Environment authorizes utilizing the African palm (Elaeis guineensis) and other exotic species for recuperating forests in the country's Amazon region. The objective is to expand the cultivation of oil-producing plants in order to generate more biodiesel.

Environmentalists reject the decision, which they see as a way to reduce from 80 to 50 percent of the “legal reserve”, the proportion of each property in the Amazon that must be maintained with native forests, an effort driven by the “ruralist” lawmakers with the backing of Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes.

“There has to be management and economic benefits, but that does not mean introducing exotic trees. We are worried about the loss of biodiversity in the Amazon,” activist Nilfo Wandsheer, of the Amazonian Working Group — an umbrella of environmental and social groups — told Tierramérica.