Brasília, September 17, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Atlantic Rain Forest NGO Network (RMA), which assembles 257 entities representing civil society, launched a national campaign on Wednesday to demand urgent measures to protect what remains of Brazil's araucária (Brazilian pine) forests, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the country. The campaign is linked to the site www.rma.org.br, where people can transmit messages to the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and other federal government authorities.
The inauguration of the SOS Araucárias Campaign occurs at a moment when lumber and landowning interests are working to prevent the adoption of measures to protect the remaining Araucária forests. These measures, which have been under study by the Ministry of Environment (MMA) since the beginning of 2002, resulted in the interdiction of 200 thousand hectares in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, an area considered crucial for the creation of conservation units for what remains of these forests.
The proclamation of this interdiction, through two executive orders issued by the MMA last December, produced a strong mobilization on the part of lumber interests, rural landowners, mayors, and politicians from the two states. Since the beginning of the year, they have been putting pressure on the federal government to cancel the two orders. At the same time, disgruntled lumber and landowning interests decided to step up the deforestation of remaining sections of forest in the areas under interdiction. These actions are intended to eliminate the typical features of these areas and make it impossible to protect them through the establishment of conservation units.
Araucária forest, which has the scientific name of Mixed Ombrophyle Forest, used to cover around 170 thousand square kilometers within Brazilian territory. In little more than a century of exploitation, this coverage has been reduced to 5% of the original area, according to data from the Ministry of Environment. These forests represent one of Brazil's most original forest formations, in which the Brazilian pine (araucária angustifolia) stands out, a tree of large stature which, despite the fact that it has been on the official Ibama list of endangered species since 1992, continues to be utilized for commercial purposes.
The conservation and recuperation of the remnants of araucária forest in the South of Brazil, including the decreeing of considervation units in priority areas, is a long-standing demand of environmentalists and organizations that defend the Atlantic Rain Forest. A mobilization on this behalf resulted in a civil suit in December, 2000, brought by the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA), in partnership with the Atlantic Rain Forest ONG Network (RMA). In 2001, the National Environmental Council (Conama) approved Resolution 278, temporarily suspending authorizations to cut these species. (DAS)
