Brazil's government on Monday unveiled how it plans to meet a pledge to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, using strengthened law enforcement against environmental crimes and other measures in the world's largest tropical rainforest.
Under former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil joined a 2021 pact with more than 140 countries to end deforestation globally by 2030. Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who assumed office Jan. 1, has made it a centerpiece of his environmental policy.
"I'm committed to resuming Brazil's global leadership in mitigating climate change and controlling deforestation," Lula said in speech on the event to launch the plan.
The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) sets a coordinated policy across more than a dozen ministries through the end of Lula's term in 2027.
It calls for boosted use of intelligence and satellite imagery to track criminal activity, regularization of land titles and use of a rural registry to monitor correct management of forests considered vital for slowing global climate change.
Degraded forests will be recovered and native vegetation increased through economic incentives for conservation and sustainable forest management, the plan says.
Among the actions to be taken, authorities will cross-check information from the financial system with the rural registry and other databases and satellite images to root out illegal loggers and cattle ranching.
Financial intelligence can, for example, point to cash movements to pay for equipment such as chainsaws for logging or excavators for illegal wildcat gold mining.
The plan also foresees creation of a tracing system for wood, livestock and other agricultural products from the Amazon, at a time when importing countries are increasingly demanding proof that they are not from deforested lands.
It also looks to develop a green economy to sustain the Amazon region without deforestation that will include the certification of forest products, technical assistance for producers, provision for infrastructure, energy and internet connection, and the encouragement of ecotourism.
Lula also said the government intends to announce a new set of measures to combat crimes such as illegal logging, illegal mining, hunting and fishing in indigenous territories, environmental protection areas, and in the Amazon as a whole.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Mark Porter and Aurora Ellis)
