Brazil’s Rousseff vetoes part of controversial Forest Code revision

mongabay.com
May 25, 2012

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff today rejected 12 of 84 articles in a controversial bill that aims to relax restrictions on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The Brazilian government will announce the full

details of the cuts on Monday.

Environmentalists had pressured Rousseff to outright veto the measure, which they said could reverse Brazil’s progress in reducing its deforestation rate. But a presidential veto could have been overruled by Congress.

The revised version of the Forest Code raised concerns among greens and scientists for provisions that

would have granted amnesty for illegal deforestation and reduced the amount of forest landowners are required to protect. The looser Forest Code seemed to be opposed by the general public, according to surveys conducted by environmentalists. The Forest Code revision was pushed by agroindustrial interests in the Congress. Continue reading “Dilma vetoes bits of Amazon Law”