Clinton's Free Trade Message Endangers Amazon
10/13/97
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Headline: Clinton's Free Trade Message Endangers Amazon
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Date: 10/13/97
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
For Immediate Release: October 13, 1997
Press Contacts:
Christopher Hatch -rainwood @ran.org
Beto Borges - brazilpro@ran.org
Mark Westlund - ranmedia@ran.org
CLINTON'S FREE TRADE MESSAGE ENDANGERS AMAZON RAINFOREST
TROPICAL FORESTRY EXPERT WARNS AGAINST FULL SCALE INDUSTRIAL LOGGING IN
BRAZIL
"President Clinton and the United States have little to offer Brazil in
terms of environmental management. Forest burning in the Amazon has
encreased 30 percent since 1996. The answer to this problem is not to
promote free trade in forest products; and it would certainly be a
mistake to follow the U.S. model by granting industrial logging
companies a stranglehold over Brazil's National Forests."
- Beto Borges, Brazil Program Director
SAO PAULO, Brazil - On the eve of President Clinton's visit to Brazil,
Rainforest Action Network's Brazil Campaign Director, Beto Borges, is
on the spot, speaking on forestry and indigenous rights issues.
Earlier in his tour, Mr. Borges testified before the Brazilian National
Congress, urging national leaders not to follow the forestry models of
the United States and Canada. The United States has less than one
percent of its original old growth forests still standing.
Mr. Borges also met the head of Brazil's Environmental Protection
Agency (IBAMA), Dr. Eduardo Martins, in a live debate on logging in the
pristine Amazon rainforest. The program aired on Opiniao Nacional
(National Opinion), on TV-Cultura, Brazil's equivalent to PBS.
IBAMA is currently planning to lease logging concessions in the Amazon,
a plan criticized by Brazilian and international environmental groups
because the government has yet to control the illegal logging already
occurring in the old growth forests.
Furthermore, Mr. Borges contends that IBAMA's logging plan for the
Tapajos National Forest (state of Para), is faulty. The plan maintains
that industrial logging in virgin rainforest is sustainable, despite a
lack of scientific data supporting this assertion. Brazil's national
government plans to use the Tapajos plan as a model for subsequent
industrial logging concessions - a move criticized by Brazil's National
Forum of NGOs and Social Movements, a coalition of environmental and
indigenous groups.
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support the rights of their inhabitants through grassroots education,
organizing, and non-violent direct action.