CICB celebrates “significant progress” on deforestation
19/06/2013
Federal environment minister, Izabella Teixeira, recently announced new data for 2012, showing a decline of 84% in deforestation rate in the course of the year compared to the rate in 2004.
Between August 2011 and July 2012, 4,571 square-kilometres of Amazon rainforest were cleared, the lowest area since Brazil began satellite monitoring deforestation in the region in 1988. The new figure also represents the fourth consecutive annual reduction and puts Brazil 76% of the way towards achieving a goal it agreed to at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen of limiting deforestation to a maximum 3,900 square-kilometres per year.
Brazil argues that clearing some land in Amazon regions can contribute to economic development there, but is happy to make a contribution to global efforts to combat climate change by keeping large areas of rainforest intact to mitigate against global greenhouse gas emissions. An estimated 60% of the 5.5 million square-kilometres of rainforest in South America are within Brazilian territory.
CICB is a member of the Brazilian Roundtable on Sustainable Livestock (GTPS), which consists of representatives from different sectors that make up the value chain of cattle production in Brazil. The work of this roundtable has already led to a number of initiatives to understand how cattle contribute to deforestation and the barriers to ensure “a deforestation-free supply chain” for meat and, as a by-product of the meat industry, for leather too.
These initiatives include work on monitoring and traceability, with promotion and incentives for cattle production that can be verified as being deforestation-free.
“Certainly there are still challenges ahead, but it is interesting to see how the industry is working to help the government to efficiently reduce deforestation in Brazil,” said CICB president, Fernando Bello, on reporting the data.
Share this story:
