Brazil’s New Environment Czar Wants Zero Deforestation and Army Help

Brazil's Environment Minister, Carlos Minc The new Environment minister of Brazil pledged Monday, May 19, to aggressively fight illegal logging and deforestation in the Amazon rain forest. Former Rio de Janeiro state Environment Secretary, Carlos Minc, is expected to take the post on May 27.

Minc replaces renowned rain forest defender Marina Silva, who resigned last week in apparent despair over the obstacles she faced in policing the illegal lumber industry, among other things.

Minc insisted that anti-logging measures "will be maintained and reinforced." He announced plans to use soldiers to protect the environment and vowed to implement a "zero deforestation" program. He gave no further details.

Former minister Silva who was very much respected by environmentalist groups, had criticized Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration failure to provide sustainable alternatives to illegal logging. Her resignation left many environmentalists worried that illegal loggers might more often be left to do as they please.

Minc said on Sunday that he would propose President Lula da Silva making Brazil's armed forces play a more active role in protecting national parks, Indian reserves and the Amazon rain forest.

He promised that the Amazon "will not be converted into charcoal" and promised to continue with the "same policies that the former minister Marina Silva had insisted. We will also do many other things that she was unable to accomplish and that we now have the conditions to fulfill."

The appointed minister is co-founder of the Green Party in Brazil and currently Rio de Janeiro state's Environment secretary.

The Amazon rain forest which borders with several South American neighbors and is home to 27 million people out of Brazil's total population of 185 million, has been facing with limited success the risks of excessive deforestation as loggers and farmers keep advancing.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

Second Brazilian in a Month Dies While in US Custody

For the second time in a month a Brazilian has died while in the ...

A fishery in Brazil

Despite Brazil’s Huge Coast Brazilians Eat Very Little Fish

Fishery products as a source of income and food is the theme of the ...

Cover Story

If you haven’t been in Brazil during Carnaval then you don’t know Brazil. If ...

Brazil Papaya on Its Way to the U.S.

The producers from the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia will start exporting, between September ...

Geologist Laments Rio Will Soon Be Dry and Forget 52 Died from Flood

The rain can’t get all the blame for tragedies in places like Angra dos ...

US$ 37 Billion: World Never Invested So Much in Brazil

Brazil received US$ 37.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), last year, double the ...

Brazil Ready to Stay 10 Years in Haiti

Brazilian General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, commander of the United Nations Peace Forces in Haiti, ...

Brazilian Black Entrepreneurs to Get a Boost from Government

Brazil’s Special Secretariat of Policies for the Promotion of Racial Equality (Seppir) and the ...

Brazilian President Lula Repeats He’s No Chavez and Will Get Out in 2011

Once again the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. has ruled out ...

A scene from Brazilian movie Cidade de Deus (City of God)

1,200 Vigilantes Poised to Invade Brazil’s City of God. It’s Not a Movie

Cidade de Deus (City of God), the Rio neighborhood made famous by the eponymous ...