Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Punishment Lifted for Illegal Loggers

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 28 2009 (IPS) - The Brazilian government has put a three-year suspension on punishments for illegal logging issued up to Dec. 10, leading environmental activists to charge that the government is reversing the stance it took at the United Nations climate change conference held earlier this month in Copenhagen. “Instead of enforcing the existing environmental legislation, they are looking for ways to loosen the regulations, a decision that feeds the culture of impunity,” said Aaron Belinky, coordinator of the Tick Tock (Tic Tac) Campaign, a coalition of non-governmental organizations dedicated to fighting climate change.

About 20 environmental groups issued a joint statement criticizing the government program “More Environment”, which is part of the “amnesty” for those who destroy forests.

“Benefiting those who deforested in 2009 means stimulating more deforestation,” because nobody obeys the law “which the government itself says it will change,” said the environmentalists.