Brazil is finally taking action against climate change by tackling deforestation, the country’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions, and has announced a plan to lower carbon dioxide by 36% or more of projected 2020 levels. Brazil is among the world’s top ten emitters, so it is very significant that the country’s deforestation rate is down 46% from just last year and that as of July 2009, has the lowest rate since deforestation monitoring began in 1988. Beef-cattle ranches and soybean and sugar farms are the main culprits of recent deforestation, so the Brazilian government is employing tactics to discourage the purchase of meat, sugar, and soy from areas of mass deforestation. A moratorium has even been placed by major Brazilian supermarkets on beef from deforested land. According to the New York Times Article, about one-third of Brazil’s ranches are owned by huge slaughterhouses and it is thought they will comply with the deforestation monitoring program. However, there are some concerns that clandestine deforestation will still take place on periphery lands with little enforcement; also, the fact that beef producer’s ownership is very “diffuse,” with more than 10,000 ranches in the country’s Amazon, is another worry.
The American environmental group the Nature Conservatory is helping the Brazilian government establish the aforementioned monitoring system in which ranchers/landowners have their current perimeters recorded using GPS coordinates with coordinates updated annually to track and control deforestation. A satellite is also being developed to monitor clear-cutting across the entire Amazon. The cost of this project is estimated to be $15-20 million, but the benefits much outweigh the costs in terms of soil integrity, water supply, clean air, and a more stable environment with continued biodiversity. The Nature Conservancy is also working to set up a $150 million “Forest Compensation Fund” that would finance the purchasing of land to keep it ecologically intact and to aid farmers with their “deforestation debt.” Brazil is taking a stand against an anthropogenically-caused warming environment, and other countries, especially the U.S., should follow in its steps.
