Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Standards for Forest Products

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 29 2009 (IPS) - The Brazilian industries that utilize raw materials from the forests will have to follow new production criteria, according to a resolution passed by the National Environmental Council this month. The rules standardize procedures for technical inspections, indicators of output and nomenclature for species and forest products, in order to prevent deforestation, facilitate monitoring and auditing, and integrate data from different states.

According to Paulo Amaral, of the Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon, the standards will affect the communities whose economies are based on extractive activities.

“It's essential to guarantee conditions and incentives so that the people leave behind illegal situations, because there is a vast illicit supply of forest products,” he told Tierramérica.

Agricultural security, assurance that extractivist communities won't lose their lands, and better access to technologies that improve efficiency are some of the conditions necessary, Amaral said.