ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
WTO and the Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon
By Beto Borges and Victor Menotti
The Brazilian Amazon rainforest is the most biodiverse region
in the world,
home to countless species of flora and fauna, as well as the habitat
of
many indigenous peoples. It covers 6 million square kilometers
(2,300,000
square miles), equivalent to more that half of the European continent.
In spite of the fact that the Amazon rainforest is the world's
largest
environmental reservoir, its destruction continuous on an alarming
scale.
According to Brazilian scientists and the Woods Hole Research
Center in
Massachusetts, an estimated 17,000 square miles were deforested
during
1998. That is more than double what government officials have
reported.
Most of this catastrophic destruction was caused by the same
familiar
forces: large cattle ranchers and logging companies. One cattle
rancher
alone burned close to 7,000 acres of rainforest to make pasture
for his
4,000 white zebu cattle. To date, approximately 16 percent of
the Brazilian
Amazon has been destroyed for short term profits which benefit
only 1
percent of the Brazilians (and their corporate supporters) who
control 50
percent of the land.
Amidst this chaos, the Brazilian government continues to pave
the way for
more destruction, submitting to powerful industry lobbying and
disenfranchised by its own lack of political will and the bankruptcy
of its
environmental agencies. Pressure from the International Monetary
Fund has
forced Brazil to pay the interest on its $270 billion foreign
debt,
originally contracted during the 1964-1985 military regimes.
An environmental crime law, imposing a fine up to $30 million,
was passed
by the government last year, but corporate lobbying has convinced
the
government not to enact it for another six years. This year's
ban on new
Amazon clearing was revoked in April, just when the burning season
started.
Clearly, the Brazilian government has shown its unwillingness
to resolve a
catastrophic problem. Indeed, the government's shortsighted drive
for
"modernization" has resulted so far in the destruction
of 16 percent of the
Brazilian Amazon (an area the size of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin
combined), significantly diminishing the world's cultural and
biodiversity
wealth.
The depletion of the Amazon rainforest will likely increase
when new trade
guidelines are set by the World Trade Organization (WTO), during
its third
ministerial meeting in Seattle from November 30 through December
3. The WTO
was established in 1995 by GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade) to
ensure that global free trade is carried out without legislative
barriers,
such as compliance with strict environmental laws.
When trade ministers meet in Seattle at the WTO's meeting,
they plan to
introduce a sweeping new agenda to increase worldwide consumption
of wood
products, open up native forests to logging and weaken environmental
protections. One of the most urgent initiatives is a new forest
products
agreement that U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky told
Congress
is a top negotiating priority. A number of other agenda items
could have
even greater impact on forests. Advising her are executives from
Weyerhaeuser, Boise Cascade, International Paper, and Georgia-Pacific.
No
one representing protections for forests or workers is at the
table.
Logging corporations are increasingly going abroad in search
of larger
forest reserves and less costly labor and environmental regulations.
The
WTO is preparing to introduce a broad agenda to protect such foreign
investments. Among the ideas being advanced is that of "National
Treatment," which would require nations to treat foreign
investors on the
same terms as domestic ones. Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and other
countries
with significant tracts of native forests have traditionally limited
foreign access to natural resources to prevent their exploitation
from
being determined by absentee owners. WTO investment rules would
institutionalize "cut-and-run" logging around the world
and prevent
governments from favoring local entities which may be more accountable
to
the land and its inhabitants.
(Beto Borges is a Brazilian environmental policy and management
analyst
residing in San Francisco. Currently, he is the Manager of Sustainable
Harvesting in the Ethnobotany and Conservation Department at
ShamanBotanicals.com. He can be reached at bborges@shaman.com.
Victor
Menotti is Program Director for the International Forum on Globalization
and can be reached at vmenotti@ifg.org. Mr. Menotti was one of
the hundreds
of peaceful protesters arrested during the Seattle WTO meeting
late
November 1999.)
Source: ISLA - Information Services Latin America
Web Site: http://www.igc.org/isla/feature.html
Winter 1999/2000
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Distribuido por: Distributed by:
'AMAZON ALLIANCE' FOR INDIGENOUS AND
TRADITIONAL PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON BASIN
1367 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036-1860
tel (202)785-3334
fax (202)785-3335
amazoncoal@igc.org
http://www.amazoncoalition.org
Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to original publisher.
The Amazon Alliance has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded
message.
Forwarding this message does not necessarily connote agreement
with the
positions stated there-in.
Todos los derechos de autor pertenecen al autor originario.
La Alianza Amazonica no ha verificado la veracidad de este
mensaje. Enviar este mensaje no necesariamente significa que
la Alianza Amazonica este de acuerdo con el contenido.
La Alianza Amazónica para los Pueblos Indígenas
y Tradicionales de la
Cuenca Amazónica es una iniciativa nacida de la alianza
entre los pueblos
indígenas y tradicionales de la Amazonía y grupos
e individuos que
comparten sus preocupaciones por el futuro de la Amazonía
y sus pueblos.
Las ochenta organizaciones del norte y del sur activas en la Alianza
Amazónica creen que el futuro de la Amazonía depende
de sus pueblos y el
estado de su medio ambiente.
The Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples
of the Amazon
Basin is an initiative born out of the partnership between indigenous
and
traditional peoples of the Amazon and groups and individuals who
share
their concerns for the future of the Amazon and its peoples. The
eighty
non-governmental organizations from the North and South active
in the
Alliance believe that the future of the Amazon depends on its
peoples and
the state of their environment.
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