November 12, 2021

11:11

Victória Sales – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – With similarity to the creation of the Atlantic Forest Biome Law, the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) held a debate in the collaborative panel “Brazil Climate Action Hub”, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, this Thursday, 11th, about the creation of the Amazon Biome Law Project.

The director of the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) SOS Mata Atlântica, Mário Mantovani, stressed the importance of the Law based on the format of the Atlantic Forest biome project. “When we talk about the Amazon, there is a lot of misinterpretation, and the forest code, which is one of the big problems we have, serves to all biomes, so this is a very important law, and that’s what we’ve been doing all along with SOS Mata Atlântica since the first data came from the Atlantic Forest Atlas”, he said.

Mantovani also said that what is needed is a regulation with the characteristics of the one we have in the Amazon. “In the Atlantic Forest, when we started to do the project, the proposal was 15 years of mobilization of the whole society. And we have to work also in this perspective of a campaign, the Amazon has a law, and it is important that it has the characteristics of the Atlantic Forest law. When we started we were able to regulate it state by state”, he pointed out.

The director points out that after this regulation, each State was with the characteristics that the NGO had about the forests, everything was defined and had a very important impact, because each State put its proposal and with this it was approved in the State Environmental Councils. “Therefore, any technician that was going to see the deforestation process or the aggression process to the Atlantic Forest could have there in his interpretation quickly what was one of those characteristics”, he explained.

The superintendent of FAS, Virgílio Viana, highlighted about the placement of two dimensions of dialogue in internal and external public consultations. “Since the Amazon has a strategic importance for Brazil, important for Brazilian agribusiness. The Amazon being deforested, agribusiness starts to have problems, the Brazilian export sector starts to have problems too. So in a way, it is a law that has multiple interests, but always focused on a great challenge that is to end, to zero deforestation as soon as possible”, he declared.

Perspective

The former Minister of the Environment, Izabella Texeira, said that it is necessary to put this perspective in a different way than the Atlantic Forest process was. “We have to look ahead from a forest that is standing, and the Atlantic Forest was already suffering from a great devastation, and this is a law that you have to grow with the forest preserved, you have to have a vision of the dimension of your impact on the forest, you need to have a vision of planning the use of this forest with social and economic ambitions. Today we don’t have a debate in the National Congress that involves the environmental issue that doesn’t collapse when it hits the Amazon”, he explained.

The vice-president of the House of Representatives, Marcelo Ramos, highlights that before the Amazonas lacked this debate. “And it is very symbolic all this effort to be at COP26 and to point out important agendas for the future of the Amazon. The fact that Brazil has deforested less and emits less should be acknowledged and welcomed, but it should not be used as an authorization to deforest more from now on and emit more, this should be Brazil’s first commitment, because we use the idea that we protect more to try to justify an authorization to deforest”, he explained.

Atlantic Forest Law

The Atlantic Forest Law guarantees the protection of the use of the biodiversity, besides the forest’s resources. With its creation, the law ensures the rights of citizens and public agencies when it comes to the exploitation of the Atlantic Forest resources, according to sustainable criteria and as part of the forest’s biodiversity.

The Atlantic Forest Law guarantees:

• Creates financial incentives for ecosystem restoration
• Stimulates donations from the private initiative for conservation projects
• Regulates the article of the Constitution that defines the Atlantic Forest as National Patrimony
• Delimits the forest’s domain
• Prohibits the deforestation of primary forests
• Creates rules for economic exploitation