From ba1fedec@uco.es Mon Feb 9 04:10:19 1998 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id EAA35804 for ; Mon, 9 Feb 1998 04:10:18 -0800 Received: from lucano.uco.es (lucano.uco.es [150.214.110.200]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with SMTP id EAA19913 for ; Mon, 9 Feb 1998 04:09:09 -0800 X-quien: ciezoo01 [150.214.115.131] Received: from [150.214.115.131] (ciezoo01 [150.214.115.131]) by lucano.uco.es (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA29116 for ; Mon, 9 Feb 1998 10:51:27 +0100 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 10:50:29 +0200 To: consbio@u.washington.edu From: "Dr. Carlos Fernandez Delgado" Subject: brasil =46rom: Kenneth Walsh@EDF on 02/03/98 12:13 PM ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND Telephone: (202) 387-3500 =46acsimile: (202) 234-6049 To: Environmental Activists =46rom: Jo?o Paulo Capobianco, Instituto Socioambiental, socioamb@ax.apc.org Steve Schwartzman, Environmental Defense Fund, steves@edf.org URGENT ACTION - BRAZIL PRESIDENT THREATENS VETO OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW On January 28th, the Brazilian Congress passed the Environmental Crimes Act (PL 1.164), giving Brazil's environmental agencies authority to enforce environmental law for the first time since 1989. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, under pressure from ranchers and industry has agreed to veto critical parts of the legislation, substantially weakening it. Please fax or email President Cardoso urging him not to veto any of the articles of this critical law. The law, first introduced by the government in 1991, had passed the House of Representatives in 1995, was strengthened in the Senate and passed unanimously in 1997 under the leadership of Senator Marina Silva. Powerful agricultural and industrial interests held up the legislation, until the release last week of official data showing that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 1995 reached the highest level ever recorded - 29,000 square kilometers, an area equivalent to New Jersey and Connecticut in a single burning season. The increase in clearing and burning (nearly double the 1994 rate) was extensively covered in the national and international press, and the government brought the legislation up for a vote. Bowing to industry and agriculture lobbies, the government agreed to weaken the law in the house, and then to the veto of key provisions, including: ? article 5 - allowing lawbreakers to be held responsible for environmental damage, without having to prove intent to pollute. Currently to assess penalties for environmental damage, the violator must be shown to have intended the damage ; ? article 43 - making it a felony to use fire in forests without taking measures to prevent its spread. Weakening this provision at the very moment in which the threat of large scale uncontrolled fires in the Amazon is greater than ever before is astoundingly shortsighted. With other changes made in House, removing article 43 practically invites deforestation of the so-called "legal reserves", the part of private properties in forested regions that are to be maintained under forest cover. ? article 47 - which makes it a crime to export flora, germplasm or plant products without official license. Removing these and at least four other key items of the bill will seriously undermine legislation that is critical to the future of the greatest remaining tropical forest in the world. Please urge President Cardoso to abstain from further weakening PL 1.164. =46ax or email the President now. He is expected to act in the coming days. Exmo. Sr. =46ernando Henrique Cardoso President of the Federal Republic of Brazil Palacio do Planalto =46ax - 55-61-321-7022 email: pr@planalto.gov.br - Model letter - Dear Mr. President: I share the concerns of Brazilian environmentalists with the consequences of weakening the Environmental Crimes Act (PL 1.164) for Brazil's natural patrimony, and the quality of life of Brazil's population. As was widely reported in the press, this law was already considerably weakened before the vote in the House of Representatives last week. Several important items approved by the Senate were removed or diluted. Environmental law enforcement in Brazil will be more difficult as a result. It is now up to you, Mr. President, to maintain the positive points that remain in the Environmental Crimes Act and ensure a better future for generations of Brazilians and the world. I respectfully urge you to approve the environmental crimes act without vetoes, and show that your government is committed to the larger interests of Brazil and the planet. Sincerely, =46or Portuguese speakers more information is available at: www.socioambiental.org ("Ultimas Noticias") Steve Schwartzman Jo?o Paulo Capobianco EDF Instituto Socioambiental ****************************************** Dr. Carlos Fernandez-Delgado Grupo de Investigaci=F3n "Aphanius" Seccion de Zoologia Departamento de Biologia Animal =46acultad de Ciencias Avda. de San Alberto Magno s/n 14004 Cordoba (Spain) Telefono: (+34) (9)57 21 86 05 =46ax: (+34) (9)57 21 86 06 e-mail: BA1FEDEC@LUCANO.UCO.ES http://www.uco.es ****************************************** .