Rondonotícias reported that the Brazilian government is expected to cut interest rates for timber companies by 50%, if the companies could show that they harvested timber in a sustainable manner or replanted deforested areas with native species. The measure is part of a package of environmental proposals from the government, which were announced on 8 May 2008. The proposals aim to boost forest sector activities and show that forest reserve areas in the Amazon can be profitable to rural producers living there. The measures also aim to end proposed changes to the Forest Code, which is under evaluation in Congress.
The revised interest rates for forest activities will be implemented for a longer period of time for those companies that establish forests instead of pastures or soybean areas on their land. In practice, landowners can use forest area as a guarantee to obtain a loan, assuming that the money will be used for forest activities. According to the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB), the interest rate cut would prove that ‘forest replanting is not economically feasible’. SFB said the new rural credit interest rate would be about 4% per year, in contrast to the presently varying interest rate of 6.5% to 8.75%.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) also overruled a judicial order of a federal judge suspending the first bid for a public forest concession in the Jamari National Forest in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. The federal judge had contested that since the forest concession was equivalent to public land, it would require the approval of Congress. However, STF decided that a ‘forest concession’ could not be confused with a ‘concession of public land’, which involves the transfer of property rights.
New Environment Minister disagrees with INPE deforestation rate
Folha Online said Brazil’s newly appointed Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, disagreed with the deforestation rate presented by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Brazilian governmental institute responsible for reforestation monitoring. It was unofficially announced that there was a 60% increase in the deforestation rate in the state of Mato Grosso, although INPE claims not to have released this information. Nevertheless, the new minister reaffirmed that Mato Grosso is the area responsible for the largest increases in deforestation, saying that between 50% to 60% of indicators show that deforestation is concentrated in Mato Grosso. Revised statistics on deforestation were expected to be published soon.
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