Fábio Calvetti
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Yesterday (29), the Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, denied that the declining trajectory of deforestation in the Amazon is the consequence of the slower pace of agricultural activity. According to the minister, the nearly 50% drop in the area cleared over the last 11 months is the result of actions taken by the federal and state governments, together with society.

Last week the conservation superintendent of the non-governmental organization, World Wildlife Fund in Brazil (WWF-Brasil), Rosa Lemos de Sá, asserted that the lower levels of deforestation are a consequence of the economic slowdown registered in recent months, particularly the dip in soybean prices. .

The minister disagrees with the position of the WWF. "To attribute the tendency for deforestation to decline solely to the commodity factor is perhaps to underestimate the effort that has been made by the Brazilian State and various social organizations that participated in numerous seminars with the Ministry of Environment," she commented. "Besides ignoring a basic strategy, which is the territorial and proprietary organization of the Amazon, and the structural tool represented by the creation of conservation units and the homologation of indigenous lands, which unquestionably erected a barrier against the predatory exploitation of resources."

According to Silva, the diminution of deforestation is primarily due to actions such as the creation of conservation units in the forests, partnerships established with state governments, and integrated surveillance, involving the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police, the army, and the Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). Moreover, Silva affirmed, the joint actions of 13 federal government ministries contributed to lowering the levels of deforestation.

Silva participated, yesterday, in São Paulo in the inauguration of the Program to Train Union Leaders as Environmental Instructors, a joint initiative by her ministry, the National Environmental Commission, the Workers' Central Union (CUT), and the Federation of Welfare and Educational Organs (Fase, a non-governmental organization for the promotion of human rights).

Translation: David Silberstein