The Brazilian government has failed to enact reforms designed to slow deforestation in the Amazon according to a recent news release from Green Peace. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s 2004 forest protection ‘Action Plan’ has failed according to Greenpeace. GreenPeace found that 60 percent of the 162 ‘activities’ under 32 strategic directions in the plan have not been enacted. Greenpeace blames the shortfall for lack of political will and coordination by the President’s Chief of Staff of the thirteen Government Ministries involved in implementing the plan. It also notes that the action plan doesn’t set deforestation reduction targets.

While the Brazilian government had previously taken credit for the decline in deforestation, the recent rise in logging confirms suspicions that commodity prices — not policy measures — are the primary determinant of forest clearing. Grain and cattle prices have been surging in recent months, boosting development pressure on the Amazon.

“The Government’s initiative to fight deforestation has many virtues, but it is crucial to establish concrete, clear and measurable targets for the annual reduction of the loss of forest cover. This would allow the government – at local, state and federal levels – to plan ahead in an integrated manner, and to evaluate its own performance, making timely adjustments,” said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon campaign coordinator. “In any case, if efforts to contain deforestation are to be effective, it is necessary, above all, to consolidate in a definitive way the provisional act on the Forest Code, which establishes that no more than 80% of the Amazon’s farming area can be cleared. It may seem obvious and redundant, but if the rules defining what should be used and what should be preserved remain in the form of a provisional act, no decisive victories will be achieved in the fight against deforestation.”
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0306-amazon.html