THE WATER LAW NEW FOREST CODE OF LAWS DILMA TAKES OVER NEGOTIATIONS TO APPROVE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW The Forest Code... CONGRESSMAN, SP - is not an agricultural problem... it’s a national problem. That was the big argument. PROPOSAL FOR FOREST CODE MOBILIZES ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND SCIENTISTS It involves the economic model of the Brazilian exporter... the biggest riches in Brazil, its biodiversity... agrarian policy, that is, land concentration... and agrarian policy. HISTORIC That was in colonial times. When the Kingdom of Portugal came to lean on Brazil... AGRONOMIST - they started chopping it down. First for building the city, that needed to
grow. The rain was collected in the forest and diverted in a clean way. The rise in population in Rio de Janeiro already created a problem. "We have to go up the hill to drink water." Some ranchers started going up the hill... to make ranches, farms, etc. So King Coffee started. With the deforestation, falling water didn’t flow alone... It came with dirt, with mud. It started wearing down the hills. With that, the water was compromised. They had to look for water in other places. In Pedro II’s time, it was determined the ranches would be removed... for
reforestation. TIJUCA FOREST, RJ - So they started planting trees. It started being protected and the water came back. What happens, especially in big cities? GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - The material in the water route... makes the water muddy... and the city has to gather it, as there’s no other source... It needs to treat it, using a series of additives. Besides spending more resources on that... the water also changes in terms of quality... for public consumption. It’s an extremely damaging process. LAWYER - We’re already out of water. For instance, do you know how Ribeirão Preto gets water? From
the Guarani Aquifer. The Cantareira system has its lowest water level since 2010. With an even greater reduction, 12,2% now... The supply has registered negative records... They say the outlook is not good, but it’s terrible. We’re already entering the dry period... The improper use of the so-called "dead supply"... can cause diseases and environmental damages. BIOLOGIST - Human being has the amazing... capacity to believe natural resources will never end. They do, they do. In some places, they already have. THE VALLEY - This farm was one of the most... promising and plentiful in this region. PARAÍBA VALLEY -
Sometimes, we’d throw out… old supplies to store the new ones. Now, there’s nothing to even store... no one produces anything. Everyone’s to blame. The selfishness of each one... of wanting to produce, having coffee farms and getting rich. Everyone wanted to make more coffee than the others. So there was general deforestation, no control. On this hill we see ahead, there was a coffee farm. We’re dismantling something accumulated... along many thousands of years... which won’t be available anymore after a while. AGRICULTURAL FRONTIER, MT - 2013 The 1965 Forest Code... was made by people worried, at the time...
LAWYER - with the future of agriculture... Because the way of using the land, constant deforestation... doesn’t preserve the minimal conditions for maintaining... agriculture in the regions where it was used. Already during the Republic, the Ministry of Agriculture was created. The Forest Service didn’t exist within the Ministry of Agriculture. Livestock and agriculture were much more important. AGRONOMIST - I gave the idea of a campaign... of forest education. We had the support of the Assis Chateaubriand campaign. He said he’d put the associated diaries... at the service of this campaign. We did the first interview with Juscelino Kubitschek.
Where he said what he thought of the forest situation. We did that with every minister. The thing got huge wonderful proportion. HOUSE CHAMBER - And the Forest Code idea was born. COUNCIL MEETING - I was on the council for seven years. In Jânio Quadros’s time, a workgroup was selected... to do the Forest Code. WORKGROUP OF THE 1965 CODE It was done with such care, that with only one "nay"… it was all erased and re-started. Our focus was to make a technical code that benefitted everyone... industry, commerce, small and big farmers, whatever. It’s necessary. And it
was approved in 1965. So it’s the old story of the lack of enforcement... either by mayors or governors... or even secretaries and the minister of Agriculture... that didn’t want to enforce it. There were never resources for the Forest Service to work. In the environmental sector, especially in the forest one... the main sentence is administrative, not judicial. The inspector finds deforestation and applies a fine. Less than 1% of the environmental fines are paid. And usually, the small guys pay, not the big ones. From 1965, devastation was so violent... FEDERAL CONGRESSMAN, SP - in the Amazon... that,
in Rondônia, in only a year... 9% of the territory was burned down. From then on, they saw the need for control. In Fernando Henrique’s time. It was the biggest deforestation in the Amazon... LAWYER - in the history of mapping... deforestation in Brazil. It reached 111,97 mi². To give you an idea, this year it was 1,930 mi². In June 1996, it was six times more than this year. There was a lot of pressure on the president, on the government... and he did a provisory measure increasing the restriction... on deforestation at forest areas in the Amazon. The
legal reservation was 50%... of existing forests in rural properties in Amazon... and he increased it to 80%. LEGAL RESERVE Legal reserve is an area of the land where the owner must... by law, keep part of the native vegetation... in order to preserve essential ecological processes... for the maintenance of the rural land. LAWYER - The logic is to maintain a minimum... Of native vegetation by state, region and bays... in function of the environmental services the forest tends... to society, to environmental health and for local environmental quality. AGRONOMIST - The presence of a forest... has an important
role in a rural property. All our production activities... when we talk about soy, beans and corn... depends on the action of pollinators. They’re insects, small animals, who live in these forests. When this rural species is blossoming... they go to the rural area for pollination. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - Coffee farms are more productive... Because there’s more pollination. Since the pollinators live in the forest. Even soy benefits. GENERAL SECRETARY - Having forests near the properties... has always been important. Having other insects or animals who fight those plagues... you solve the problem without chemical agents. RESEARCH CONFIRMS
THAT PESTICIDES CAN CAUSE CANCER FEDERAL CONGRESSMAN, RO - The legal reserve... is like a confiscation of private property... and the rural owner is still responsible... for conserving that legal reservation. It makes no sense... but it’s all for the defense of what we call "environment". SENATOR, MT - It’s like someone in town... buying a 100m² apartment... and the city saying they can only use 20m²... and the rest is for cockroaches, lizards and house pets. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - Forests are agriculture’s biggest allies. Because the biggest use in agriculture is water. You need many tons of
water to make one ton of soy. Many more tons of water to make a ton of meat, of beef. That is a well-known effect. And we had been showing... The effects of forests in Brazil’s productive zone. And it’s not just Mato Grosso... but all the meridional region in South America, east of the Andes. Even the central part of Argentina gets humidity from the Amazon. The depuration of water in the natural environment... ZOOLOGIST - is made by microorganisms. We don't pay for it. The good water we have was a de-nitrification process… and many chemical processes performed
by microorganisms. There’s no incompatibility between agriculture and preservation. On the contrary, a wise agriculture preserves the environment... THE EARTH’S ANSWER - recovers its damage. And increases productivity. These woods next to my house... RURAL PRODUCER - I’m gonna leave to my relatives. So my grandkids can know green woods. THE NEW CODE SENATOR, MT - Until 2008, when President Lula... decreed the environmental regularity of properties... and forced Congress to get a project... of almost 15 years of the Forest Code... and bring it to discussion, otherwise... the state and federal ministries... would act with the same rigor and
determination of legal Amazon. Part of the congressmen wanted a new law... SENATOR, AC - to grant the farmers amnesty. "We have a problem, many farmers deforested... the margins of rivers, their beds... and occupied areas that weren’t allowed." Some congressmen said: "Sure, let’s change the law... then no one’s breaking it". CONGRESSMAN, MA - The law started being compulsory... and Justice was being served. The House president created a special commission... to issue a ruling on all the proposals of changes... in the Forest Code. LAWYER - They wanted to exonerate the farmers. Make their lives easier and regulate
it as easily as possible. Us environmentalists were the absolute minority. We mustn’t have had even three or four votes. CONGRESSMAN, SP - They said it’d be good for agriculture. And there wouldn’t be any harm to the environment. The special commission became a way of legitimizing... amnesty to those who had illegally deforested forests. SENATOR, TO - Amnesty exists in law to be granted. Torturers were given it... and those who committed terrorist acts. How many fiscal amnesties were granted by this country? How many have done barbaric acts around the world... political leaders, and were given amnesty in
Brazil? But that’s not the case. It’s not the case of the Forest Code. It could’ve been amnesty and it wouldn’t have been a sin. CONGRESSMAN, RO - After a strong union... of the congressional farming front... which I presided for two and a half years... we managed to raise that flag, strengthen the sector... sit down at a table with all interested parties... and discuss as responsible grownups... what was in the interest of the environment and producers. The earth doesn’t understand timeframes. The earth doesn’t know if it’II need five years... That legal reservation story is just a
lie. What really matters is making food. Thank you, President. The production of food is as important, or more… than preserving the environment. LAWYER - Part of the agricultural production... of agricultural commodities in the country... is not the yucca and beans we eat at home. It’s soy, cotton for export, sugar cane for ethanol. AGRONOMIST - We have 270 million hectares... Of rural areas in Brazil. When we see what we use out of those 270 million… it’s a shock, because only 60 million of hectares... are used for actual food production. The remaining 210 million is for meat.
If I go from one head by hectare by year... to one and a half head... using just a little technology, which is quite cheap... with the proper handling of cattle and pastures... with technical orientation for that... I can free up almost 80 million hectares from cattle... to food production. That would meet Brazil’s needs until 2080. My biggest concern... CONGRESSMAN, RS - is the cost of that operation. It’s important that society knows the farmer pays for it. No one pays the farmer back... for what was removed from their property, their production... to do the preservation program.
Above all, small and medium owners... LAWYER - are very much indebted now. If there is a deliberate agrarian policy... in which it’s required to buy expensive certified seeds… paying royalties, using tons of pesticides and fertilizer... And borrowing from the bank. There’s a chain of events that makes him rotate debt. And they say: "Your problem is not all that, just the extra woods. Your problem is that river bed. And restoration will get you broke". There’s many people broke and few bursting with money. The money made by Brazilian agriculture only grows. Brazilian agriculture is living a good
moment, not a crisis. If we could not fine the little guy... and offer incentives to do the right thing... If you create conditions for that, it’s what should happen. And it’s not the easiest solution… which was sweeping the problem under the rug. "If you can’t do it, don’t." As if it solves anything. But the chain breaks on the weakest link... of forest restoration and ecological balance. The law didn’t propose: "Instead of not restoring a river bed... why not breaking Monsanto’s royalties?". Why not make credit cheaper? Why not use less pesticides, which is almost obligatory? You
can’t get credit at the bank without a pesticide prescription. It’s still like that to this day. Brazil and the world can’t let go of defenses now. We need that to feed the famine population in the world. CONGRESSMAN, RJ - Most of the ruralists who voted... Out of which 14 had been fined by the IBAMA - clearly did so for their own benefit. Besides of getting rid of fines and the obligation to restore... the permanent protection areas of legal reservation areas... they raised the value of their own lands. Approved, the article goes to sanction. AMNESTY The
Forest Code, in essence… SENATOR, MT - of conservation, production, etc... is a copy of what was done in Mato Grosso, on MT Legal. With some things we couldn’t do at the time... because federal laws restrained us. LAWYER - A logic of intensifying use... of already open areas. With no debate on the ecological impact in medium and short terms. CONGRESSMAN, RO - We wanted to consolidate occupied areas. What does that mean? Brazil is this big. That’s in the production. That’s already torn down, consolidated and occupied. That social pact said this: from now on, we will have
a new rule... but what is in production, remain in production. PREVIOUS LEGISLATION - Before, properties had to maintain… between 20 and 80% of native vegetation as legal reservation. If they had been deforested, they had to be completely recreated... and with the original vegetation. CURRENT LEGISLATION - Now every property... with fewer than four fiscal modules... which is more than 90% of total properties in the country - are excused from revegetation. Small properties, up to four fiscal modules. Legal reservation is what you had as forests in July 2008. You must look at the deforestation map of the
time. Legal reservation is what forests there were in July 2008. If they’re all devastated, it’s zero. If it was all kept, it’s the percentage at the time. PUBLIC POLICY THEORY - There’s those who obeyed the law... who did the legal reservation and had done the APP... and his neighbor, who did nothing like that... but he’II get amnesty and the same benefits. That is perhaps the biggest problem. Those who did it right, followed the law, etc… will get a sucker certificate. Those who degraded, caused environmental damage... FEDERAL SUB-INSPECTOR - until July 22, 2008... doesn’t have to
reforest it. They created an acquired right against the environment. It’s a reason of unconstitutionality. LAWYER - Many regions in Brazil... won’t have legal reservations, because no one has to restore it. They’re areas that’II be consolidated without legal reservation. CONGRESSMAN, SP - Besides not recovering... millions of hectares of degraded land... you set a terrible example. Pedagogically, it’s a disastrous measure... because we created an ecological and environmental conscience... and all of a sudden, we go the wrong way. PUBLIC OPINION BRAZIL, BIGGEST USER OF CANCEROUS PESTICIDES NOVEMBER 23, 2011 CORRUPTION WANTS TO ROB OUR FORESTS NO MORE RURALISTS
DECEMBER 17, 2011 Public consultations were had... CONGRESSMAN, SP - and about 85% of the people... didn’t want the change in the code. They understood the code should’ve been discussed in depth. We lost because the political system is distorted. LAWYER - If it reflected what society thinks... we wouldn’t have lost, but we did. Then came the campaign for "Veto it, Dilma". Madam President, I’II break protocol and make a request: Veto it, Dilma. WE WANT GREEN BACK! FOR THE FAUNA, FLORA, AND LIFE! ASK FOR THE VETO BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE Those are questions we shouldn’t discuss... the
amnesty matter must not be discussed. Those who deforested must replant and get fined. And I ask you who see us... your millions of friends and fans, to be present. DILMA, SAVE THE FORESTS NEW DEFORESTATION CODE THEY ALSO HAVE A VOICE I’m not in favor of consolidating deforestation. I’d like to say I have a commitment with Brazil. DILMA, TURN OFF THE CHAINSAW! Veto it! Dilma can veto parts or even the whole code. It’s what we want. We want a "Veto it, Dilma". - But veto it all. - Veto it all, Dilma. So on Sunday, May 20th...
take part in the "Veto it, Dilma" rally, in Fortaleza. LAWYER - "Veto it, Dilma" reflected... how society was against it. AGRONOMIST - We prepared a petition... that gathered over a million signatures... And were sent to Dilma asking "Veto it, Dilma". Madam President. Veto it, Dilma. Veto that Forest Code. It’s disrespectful to the citizens. Among the many atrocities in the Forest Code review... one caught my attention. The word "amnesty", which has a beautiful origin... acquired a nefarious meaning in Brazil. A PROMISE IS A PROMISE LAWYER - Dilma tried telling society... she wanted to balance it out
vetoing some things. She made many small vetoes, some even bad ones... because they removed good things that were on the law... But transmitted the idea that Dilma resolved the issue. The Brazilian Estate, Public Power, the Federal Government... played a partial role in this. It could’ve changed the process to a less unbalanced result. CONGRESSMAN, MA - The government has no unity. It pleases, on purpose. Pleasing the environment here, agriculture there... mining and energy there. Without unity of policies, there’II always be ambiguity. The strong will beat the weak. That is reality. CONSTITUTIONAL PROJECT 2nd ROUND DEFORESTATION If
today it generates effect... the deforestation in the Amazon and Brazilian fields... LAWYER - exploded in 2013. Brazil, which came from successive drops in deforestation... had again another big increase. Even in the Amazon, the most inspected biome. Let alone the Cerrado... CONGRESSMAN, MA - In the Atlantic Woods, a survey… revealed for the first time in five years an increase in deforestation. CONGRESSMAN, RO - I don’t believe it, in practice. I’m talking about my State. I don’t believe it. Much was said about it at the time. It was one of the arguments to strike down the code.
"They’re announcing it, they’II tear it down." They were changing the code just by announcing. CONGRESSMAN, SP - Deforestation came back... in a horrible way. Unprecedented in Brazil. SENATOR, MT - With satellites, we know where it is. But we still have no info on why it happened. LAWYER - It gave off this message to society... that deforestation pays off. That disobeying the law pays off. Because later, congressmen connected to agriculture... can lobby to change the law. So unfortunately, although it’s not necessary... Brazil still tears down forests and fields in big areas... bigger than any other country
in the world... even with already deforested areas proper for production. THE LAW FOR BIG FARMERS Let’s imagine some farmer... CONGRESSMAN, RO - an illegal one... torn down a 1,000 hectares. Everything. And he proves he did it before 2008. So he is obligated to regenerate, recompose, or compensate. One of the three. Regenerate: he goes to Agroenvironmental, makes the PRA deal... The regular Environmental Regulation Program. And decides, "I will regenerate all before this". There’s a dry period and he forgets, never goes in again... and nature itself acts. In the Amazon, that happens. Nature itself can bring it
back. ZOOLOGIST - In the Northwest of São Paulo State... we have less than 4% of remaining vegetation. It’s sad, talking about that number. We gotta get to it and spend money. If you don’t plant it, if you don’t get dirty... there’s no silver bullet in this situation. In recomposition, he plants native and exotic essences... 50% of each, as per the law... and he can manage the forest in the future and sell wood. SENATOR, MT - It was a relief for the farmer’s costs... because it’s not cheap to plant an hectare of native forest. There’s many
essences and all that. The code made it more flexible. AMPHIBIAN SPECIALIST - We don’t recommend exotic species. You destroy an Atlantic forest... and plant eucalyptus in its place. It doesn’t guarantee the maintenance of that ecosystem... or the animals and amphibians who lived there. BIOLOGIST - There’s no use in regenerating... With exotic cultures. Maybe for wood. Not for the biodiversity. AGRONOMIST ENGINEER - We’re at the Bioflora habitat. An habitat that’s already 15 years old... where we used to produce yearly about 4 million plants. The number went down because of talks on the new code. During the
discussion, owners decided to stop planting... and are waiting to see what’s gonna happen. Species must be native, because they’re already adapted. The species provide food as fruit or sap for insects. That forms a natural chain inside the forest. And allowing to self-sustain throughout time. Let’s say we need to recuperate 100 hectares of forest. You plant pines and eucalyptus on 50... and on the other 50, native woods. LAWYER - That’s 50% of the species... or a mix of exotic and native in the whole area. That must be regulated, it’s not clear. CONGRESSMAN, RO - If they
don’t want to recompose... they can compensate with another property... as long as it’s in the same biome. If the farm is located in Rondônia... BIOME COMPENSATION - in Amapá, Maranhão or Mato Grosso... he can buy another property with the forest untouched... Register it, and do his part. When you allow them to compensate in another State... without a generic criteria, you break the principle. The Forest Code sets a minimum by property... of environmental quality by region. CONGRESSMAN, SP - There’s small areas in your property... and you decide to switch it for a complete area in Pará...
to remove the small biomes there. But here’s the thing: the small biomes that hold the water questions... and the animals, weren’t even considered in the Forest Code. That’s one of the most important items. The impression we got from the discussion... Is that animals are born on concrete. Not in the forest. The wild animals lost big. When you set a forest fire, you don’t control it at all. FIRE SPOTS - The animals are exterminated. We committed a Holocaust against our animals. Imagine if the Mona Lisa catches fire. Wouldn’t it be on the cover of every newspaper?
BIOLOGIST - We lost species every day. Others are in the process of extinction. And no one talks about it. It’s a very serious problem, there’s no way to redo species. Something that took thousands of years to evolve... there’s no redoing it. ZOOLOGIST - Every species has its essential... role in community. If we have 156 bird species globally on the verge of extinction... things aren’t going well in our country’s environment. Doesn’t matter the money and other economical or social signs. For an environmental sign, 156 bird species threatened... is a very worrying number. The situation in Brazil
is not good in environmental terms. And it’s very important to consider that when changing the code. LAWYER - It’s also a duty of the Public Power... to avoid extinction of species. Because it’s cause and consequence of ecological imbalance. It’s consequence, because deforestation erases the species... and the species leaves a gap in the nature chain. APP REDUCTION A study proves that to ensure the sustainability of properties... it’s essential that you preserve areas of native woods. That ended up generating intense pressure... CONGRESSMAN, SP - to separate APPs and legal reservations. What’s an APP? They’re more sensitive areas.
PERMANENT PRESERVATION AREA - Top of hills and river margins. And legal reservation is an area we preserve... for many environmental and ecological functions. They combined the two in the new project. Dilma didn’t veto that. If you have 20% of legal reservation and 30% of APP... 50% of the property is untouched. Now, it’s 30% at the most. AGRONOMIST - Permanent Preservation Areas. Preservation, meaning no use. It can’t be used. Using it, you will hurt something in there. LAWYER - Let me give an example: building football stadiums in permanent preservation areas. Another example: the infrastructure built to
greet the Pope. You shouldn’t take the Pope there, he should go to Copacabana. Where they invested money, it became muddy. It was completely flooded, impossible to use. FEDERAL SUB-INSPECTOR - It couldn’t have been built there. They buried the mangue in Rio de Janeiro... to do an event of cultural, social, religious, artistic interest... and the new law allows it. MANGUES We have over a million people along the coast... BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER - who really depend... on resources from the mangues for their survival. I catch crabs, and other crustaceans. I catch fish. Everything helps here. For consumption
at home. PICKER - I don’t get it to sell, but to eat. About 70% of commercially-apt fish in the Brazilian coast... depend on the mangues at some point in their lives. We depend a lot on that food chain... which starts at the coasts, the coastal waters... and makes the fish we consume. And 70% is a respectable number. The new law reduced mangue protection. They were considered APPs in all their extension... what prohibited their occupation, except for extraordinary cases. Now, not only all the deforested areas from before 2008... can be occupied by constructions... but the preserved
ones can be partially occupied... By shrimp tanks or salt collectors. BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER - The impact starts... by increasing land temperature with the removal of the coverage... that protects the soil. The first impact is on oysters, crabs and fish. We don’t see birds here in the region... like cranes and migrational birds. This was a landing zone for migrational birds. We don't see it anymore. Not to mention we’re removing animal protein... and threatening food safety for coastal populations. It’s missing from the Estate’s math... To accounting the losses related to the impact on biodiversity. Because of the
degradation of the estuaries... BIOLOGIST - in the Northeaster region... many newborn manatees get stuck at the beaches. We do rescue work, rehabilitation and reintroduction. The main activity of the Manatee Association... PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION - is observational tourism... of manatees and the mangues. If there weren’t mangues and all we have here today... we couldn’t get money for the 50 families... who work at the association. If this mangue area ends, or is degraded… These people will lose the direct income they have... causing gigantic damage. BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER - The coast zone is a national treasure. The
mangues are on the coast. It’s a national treasure and a permanent preservation area. The apicum is the region where the mangue colonizes… when sea levels rise. It’s part of it, it’s in between the tides. Apicum is the mangue... but, what comes back? 10% of mangues in the Amazon biome... which is Amapá, Pará and Maranhão... Can be used for shrimp farming. And 35% of the remaining mangue areas... can be used for shrimp farming. By replacing mangues with shrimp farming... we’re talking unemployment. BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER - We create one job... and leave, at least, four people without
jobs. Those who fished, caught crabs and had other financial uses... can’t use it anymore. LAWYER - It hurts the rest of the mangue... because it releases a series of chemical products... antibiotics and fertilizers, that pollute the rest of the mangue... And strongly alter the ecological dynamics there... harming all the use of the mangue around those areas. This species that is produced here is toxic for the region. It’s not a native species. It’s a very voracious species that competes with the natives... and whose true impact we still don’t know... in case it colonizes our coast. Sea
shrimp farming doesn’t need to be done in the coast. It can be raised in the Northeastern countryside... in heavy water. Works very well. At the mangues we have enormous environmental damage. So, should we lose many uses of the mangues... To benefit one? It’s a way of privatizing the resources, actually… for the rich in detriment of the poor who used that area. Should we privatize profits and socialize costs? For me, it’s so clear. It’s land redistribution in reverse. INCLINES I have the law, which will authorize me or not... GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - to build on or occupy
an area... but there should be a study to determine... or to try and show the Public Power... the problems those areas can have. In São Paulo, 407 risk areas were mapped by IPT in 2010. There’s many people living in areas that could have problems. The inclines are represented by inclined surfaces... of the lands we find on our daily lives. GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - Actually, at over 25 degrees... occupation is tricky. It’s not impossible. The new law reduced protection to steep inclines... and hilltops. Before, all inclines with more than 45 degrees of inclination... and hilltops had to
be kept intact in their native vegetation. Now, all inclines of over 45 degrees... and all hilltops illegally deforested before 2008... Can remain with pastures and plantations. If you intervene on an incline... changing the pattern of surface water circulation... changing soil conditions, removing vegetation... you’re creating an unstable situation. Sometimes, one of those areas can be a housing opportunity. Doesn’t matter if it’s on the top or the middle of the incline... GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - or if it’s 45 degrees. The soil developed on that incline... sometimes ends up removed by erosion... GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - or even quicker processed.
Like concentrated rain. One cause of tragedies in the hilly region... in the 2011 floods... was exactly the deforestation of hills. And also the deforestation of permanent protection areas... CONGRESSMAN, RJ - of river margin vegetation. Thousands of people died for the lack of foresight… CONGRESSMAN, SP - the government’s carelessness... that allowed resorts by the riverside... and deforestation even for housing in areas of high incline. That made it easier for the river to flood and change course... devastating everyone in its path. With the perspective of climate change... Those extreme precipitations will get more frequent. When we realized,
it was all destroyed. Roads were destroyed. It became a river. It all ended. Taking everything it had. It’s absurd to demand that a farmer... CONGRESSMAN, RO - from Rio Grande do Sul... who’s been planting grapes for 100 years with no accidents... leaves to rebuild the hill. LAWYER - There’s an important research from WWF... on the coffee from Minas Gerais... the apple from Santa Catarina, the grape from Rio Grande do Sul... To see the percentage of those farms in areas protected by law. WWF GENERAL SECRETARY - The municipalities cited on speeches… like Bento Gonçalves and Três
Pontas... would have their economies completely compromised. And it was verified that by applying the Forest Code... these municipalities had only 1.5% of occupied territories... in permanent preservation areas. That is, a very small part of production was irregular. It wasn’t true that enforcing the law... would end production of grapes, apple, or coffee. We have concrete data on that. But no one wanted to listen. CONGRESSMAN, RS - Rice, for over 100 years... We’ve planted on riverbeds, in Rio Grande do Sul. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - So we verified. How much land for rice production? 1.6 million hectares.
That’s 1% of river areas, in Brazil. There could’ve been specific rules for that case, exceptions. LAWYER - Rice needs riverbeds to be produced. The riverbeds were considered preservation areas. They could’ve made an exception for this case, or another. And control it. But they got those cases and legalized pastures... in preservation areas, at riverbeds and river margins. Legalized sugarcane farmers in the São Paulo countryside... who deforested the riverbeds, and now won’t have to recover it. GEOLOGIST RESEARCHER - Keeping the vegetation... you protect the soil against infiltration and erosion. Therefore, you reduce the chances of mudslides. Not
only because of risk areas or mudslides... but for a big problem which is the aggradation of rivers. And that’s a more and more common phenomenon in cities... and also rural areas, which are floods. They are related to aggradation of rivers. We’re living the problem, it’s there, in our faces. When it rains and earth slides in Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina... That’s the Forest Code being applied. It’s the new code in practice. Why did it slide? There was no forest. Why did it flood? It was at the river margin. Why did it flood? Because of
aggradation... when it rains, the river can’t hold the water. It overflows. That was said, everyone knew it. RIVER MARGINS PUBLIC POLICY THEORIES - Protecting adjacent woods today... we spend a lot more reverting aggradation of rivers... than with sanitation. It’s a complete distortion of the river’s nature. Sanitation is obligatory. It has a direct impact on health. The greatest benefit of a society is water, life… and we are losing it. We don’t realize, we open the faucet not looking at what’s behind it. The rivers are completely exposed because we got lazy. When there’s water shortage, I curse
the mayor, everyone… but I don’t look at the situation at this place. São Paulo went through a scare. Can we have, in the next months, a clear risk for the populace? If there isn’t a lot of care with quality control... after treatments with pesticides... which are dangerous chemicals, we may. There has to be a good control... While the result of the analysis isn’t out... health problems start appearing. Stomach aches, the water smells bad. When I drink water, too. Little Gabriel has a 101,3° F fever. It’s not fair paying for rotten water. …for the next days,
the approval for a fine... for those who increase water consumption. We have a completely compromised system. We’re at the limit of the supply. And the supply’s margins aren’t protected... But it’s the first time we look at the supply. The Cantareira System is extremely important... because it supplies about 9 million people... in the São Paulo metro area. BIOLOGIST - In the mapping we did... about 46% of the APP areas are occupied with other... occupations, instead of forests. Most of those 46% are pastures, and the rest, eucalyptus. With the new code, the law criteria changes... for the
Cantareira System itself... and for the handling of water resources in the future. The new code wasn’t well-accepted by us. AGRONOMIST - It wasn’t good. What we have noticed talking to owners... is that they see the need of restoring these areas... around water bodies. RURAL PRODUCER IN SP - I’ve planted 1,200 trees. And I’m very proud to say. 38 varieties. Sometimes people say it will cost a lot... but it doesn’t, it’s very cheap. Now you can buy a sapling for 2 reais. In four years, water has increased in 40%. It’s cleaner. It was worth it. The
first important role that forest performs... ZOOLOGIST - is intercepting. Intercepting rain water, debris and pollutants. The first important physical factor. Intercepting the sun. The adjacent woods work as eyelashes. They protect the water environment and its surroundings. ADJACENT WOODS - The new law has drastically reduced... the protection for adjacent woods. The forest strip required for river protection... varied from 30 to 500m along each margin... depending on the river’s width. Now, with the possibility of keeping crops and pastures... As consolidated rural areas in areas deforested before 2008... that protected area will vary between mere 5 to 100m...
CONSOLIDATED RURAL AREA - along each margin... depending on the size of the land. In some cases, the decrease was up to 99% of the area... that was originally protected. Those protection strips are related... ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER - to the size of the property. The bigger the property along the river margin... the bigger the protected area. The largest properties are established in flatter areas... not in the margins of water routes. So in the end, it was established a much larger protection... on flat areas and a smaller one on river beds... which, in theory, should be more protected.
LAWYER - It was a social component. The smaller the farmer is, more space they need to produce... so the protected area should be smaller. Just to say it isn’t zero, they set the minimum at five. If they had talked a little more it would’ve been three or two. About seven. And there was that idea of 5, 8 and 15. You can’t even inspect that. 8m on a river margin. How is that? Who will measure? You can’t catch that on satellite pictures. BIOLOGIST - There were many jokes. With 5m you have to pick which tree to
plant... because many times, a tree takes up more than 5m. ZOOLOGIST - To protect a river... no matter how small, with that forest area extension... around those rivers, we’ve noticed it’s very little... to offset the effects of what’s outside that area. And what happens outside of it is always very chaotic, drastic. Especially in yearly crops. The soil is revolved every year... sometimes, more than twice every year. That revolved soil is left vulnerable to any rain... and it will be carried inside the river. There’s two big problems: you lose water quality and you lose soil... agriculture’s
greatest asset. AMPHIBIAN SPECIALIST - Sediments cross and fall in the water. There’II be a lot of organic matter there. Plants reproduce at such a great rate... that the animals can’t eat all the plants that grow there. That generates eutrophication and animals end up dying. Eu = true Trophos = food That means more producers. Algae are producing organisms because they do photosynthesis. In the eutrophicated environment, organic matter from algae... Needs to be decomposed. And it uses oxygen for that. That’s an environment with a big tendency to hypoxia... a place with a low quantity of dissolved oxygen.
Low quantity of dissolved oxygen... less oxygen for those who need to breath underwater... like fish, insect larvae and all water organisms. And that can end up killing amphibians, too. Eliminating species who can live in this environment. PhD IN EATH SCIENCES - There’s plague predators... who live in the forest... and help reduce the impact from monoculture... or the cultures who suffer insect attacks. We can even get health problems... because the farmer will have to use some kind of defense. If he was an organic farmer, it’II get a lot harder. He’II stop being organic to sell a
product with pesticides. CONGRESSMAN, RS - When we research... if it’s 5, 30, 50 or 500 meters… How many meters? It was set at some moment by someone. From 20 to 100 it went to 30 to 500. A number. LAWYER - Formally, it’II be legalized. There’II be 5m of adjacent woods. The law says 5m, there’s 5m. It’s legal. Is that river protected? It’s not. Is it environmentally proper? No, but it’s legal. RIVER BEDS The new law also reduces protection to river beds. RIVER BEDS Before, all farmers had to protect at least… 50m of forests around the
beds. Now, with the possibility of keeping crops and pastures... as a consolidated rural area... CONSOLIDATED RURAL AREA - protection will be only 15m. The decrease in the originally protected area was 70%. AGRONOMIST - When we tell the farmer... we’II only protect that river bed with 15m... He says we’re crazy. You need 30 or 50m... because it’s the bed that originates the water in his property. And it’s very real. Now, any rural property is only valuable if there’s water. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER - Some sensitive users are... electric companies. When there’s a bigger placement of sediments in reservoirs...
their economic lifespan is reduced. That has a cost. And that costs is the electric company’s. The company has the prerogative of passing on their costs... and the citizen on the other end, who gets energy at home... is also indirectly affected by that process. Itaipu is the biggest producer of electric energy in the world... DIRECTOR, ITAIPU BINATIONAL - and the biggest producer... because of the prodigious waters in Paraná river. Without the intense influx and richness of a permanent river... we wouldn’t have the records that Itaipu breaks... generating 19% of all energy that Brazil uses. We need
all the supplies and rivers to have that forest coverage... that their margins are protected with reforestation... or preserving the woods... because that’s an extraordinary chance of keeping... water quality and its abundance. There’s 104,000 hectares that surround the water supply... Of reforested waters. 90% with native species plus the reservations from refuges. Although we’re contesting the Code, we’re doing the adjacent woods... without a fight, I repeat. And without making any small property unviable. That’s an argument that has no consistence. A great involvement is needed... but also entrepreneurship, for instance... in the first five micro bays we restored...
55 flora and fauna species have returned. The bees have returned. Now the region is a focus of honey production... Including jataí bee honey, a native bee that doesn’t sting. Now, the coop has 401 honey sales points in Brazil. PRESIDENT, COOFAMEL - The coop is a commercial support... of family agriculture. Family agriculture is not just apiculture... but many products. At the same time, you preserve the environment and the woods. In 2002, I started organic production. The girls were little. ORGANIC PRODUCERS - Later, they went to college. We supported them with these 2.5 hectares. That’s our pride.
My strong suit now is grapes. Then comes tomatoes, bananas... And greens, the vegetables. It’s one of my strong suits now. Each one of these, I’ve already added it up... gives me 250 reais of gross profit. That’s almost 200 reais of net profit, each. I’m sure I won’t ever go back to pesticides. This seal tells you if it’s organic or not. If you eat organic, it has to have that seal. Very good. The people from Itaipu came... SMALL FARMER - and even the mayor’s office. They did the project for the 30m. I reforested the 30m, it
was fenced. Now, we even use the water. I don’t know how long it went without preservation. The animals came close to the water and got it dirty. With this, there’s more water and the animals are back. I use that water for irrigation. It’s the main way of survival here. That water is a goldmine. Now the animals survive because of the water... and because I can irrigate, I have enough pasture. Without water, it’s hard to live in a small area... so you need to preserve the water. That’s everything. In the past, we didn’t have water problems.
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE - According to old residents... there was plenty of water. The examples are practical. Where we restored and did adjacent woods... the mines were recuperated... and support many families, not just one. Like this one, that used to support only one... and now it’s used by 14 families. It’s worth it to resist and do the restoration. Adjacent woods would protect the water beds. With 15m, soon the slides get in the water bed. You need more space to protect the rainwater... And not cause aggradation. Of course the small farmer misses that land area... but on
the other hand, he wins a lot, too… by protecting fauna and flora. We notice it. 50M PROTECTION - Here’s where we started… the first projects 10 years ago... many wild animals are returning. Bee populations are rising. Apparently you lose, but there’s a lot of gain. DIRECTOR, ITAIPU - Sometimes it can’t be 35 or 40. Maybe 25? And you compensate at another micro bay area. But if you just talk to the small producer. We have dozens of statements saying: "I should’ve done it 20 years ago". HUMID AREAS IN THE AMAZON The humid areas in the Amazon,
the "igapós"... LAWYER - the floodplain forests, it’s absurd… what the congressmen were told when they were voting When you change the way of measuring... the preservation areas on river margins... that stop being maximum flooding areas... and become "regular bed" areas... - areas of the river in droughts - all the great Amazon floodplains, all of Brazil’s swamps... Which in the wet season have a flood route... that remains there for months... those areas are no longer protected. The Amazon alone has 155,000 mi² of floodplains and igapós... that stopped being protected with the approval of the new law.
That’s more than São Paulo and Paraná together. That’s very serious, as they’re areas with millions of people... who depend on these environments to survive. They depend on fishing, on these lands being fertile... and the river flow. They depend on extracting açaí, pupunha... a number of species of flora and fauna... Which they also hunt, who live in those environments... which now can be legally drained and ruined. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - We’re talking water... which is the same as blood for the environment. The scenery is like its body... and the water flowing is like its blood.
The rivers are the veins that return that to the ocean. And what brings fresh water into this body? Rain. They’re aerial rivers, flying rivers. It’s another thing we work with here. There’s two towns, Querência and Lucas do Rio Verde, in Mato Grosso. In the same latitude, 250 miles apart. One is here. It was a forest, it was torn down... and the other is in a deeper area, west of Xingu Park. We show the flying river that reach Querência... comes from the Bahia area, an arid and dry region. They pass by the deforested area, which was
once the Amazon... used to be green forest, and arrive at Querência. And the aerial rivers that supply Lucas do Rio Verde... take a very similar route. They go through many miles in the Xingu reservation... and arrive in Lucas do Rio Verde. Since these rivers go through protected areas... Lucas do Rio Verde has two more months of rain every year. And they have a second crop. Querência doesn’t. There’s not enough water in Querência for it. That translates into millions of reais in profit for Lucas do Rio Verde. SENATOR, MT - In the Sapezal region, for instance...
almost on the Rondônia border with Bolivia... I can get two crops a year. In the Querência or the Xingu region... the entire Araguaia area, I can get one crop a year. But these changes didn’t happen now. In the Northeast of Mato Grosso... there was always less rain than in other regions. Is there influence from the forest? I don’t think so. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - If Blairo Maggi knew what I know... - seems like now he does - he would be out with the Greenpeace on the streets... with "protect the forest". Because it’s in their
interest. It’s unanimous. Agriculture has only to gain... with the preservation and rebuilding of native ecosystems... within their properties. VOICELESS SCIENCE ZOOLOGIST - Dealing with biodiversity means... affecting many interests. At the same time that we work a lot with few resources... What we produce is put aside. "If it’s interesting, we use it. But if it gets in the way, no. We pretend this knowledge doesn’t exist." CONGRESSMAN, RJ - It was offered to Congress... an arsenal of new technological resources... that could’ve been very well used in truly modern, timely… legislation, that combined respect... for the environment with
the stimulus to sustainable production. The SBPC took part in many debates. There was a group within SBPC that handled the subject... and generated a very interesting document... about area maintenance APPs and legal reservation issues. At the end of the day... ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER - the lobby in congress prevailed. I’d say scientific lobby is practically non-existing. PhD IN EARTH SCIENCES - If there’s the political will… science has a lot to contribute. We need the political will. What are we seeing? That political will is connected to interests... and with strong ideological roots... but not necessarily in Brazil’s and
its society’s interests. BIOLOGIST AND OCEANOGRAPHER - If you ask each one... in the scientific community, you’II get the same answer. The documents made by SBPC... Made by the Brazilian Science Academy and the ones made by us... from North to South, it’s not just me... there’s a big group... not only in mangues but also in other systems... in other humid areas, and we weren’t heard. We made many recommendations... signed at the Ministry of Environment... and sent to a National Committee of Humid Zones. They weren’t even read. AGRONOMIST - We weren’t heard. Our proposal was bringing to
the legislative... always scientific issues... Like how the code alterations could be sustained or not... by scientific knowledge. In the Chamber, this scientific knowledge was practically ignored. They had no intention of using it. ZOOLOGIST - There was a great mobilization... of the scientific community to try and show why not to do it. Why not to reduce the forest areas in APPs... why not have exotic species in the legal reservation... So there was a mobilization, many events. Many documents arrived in these people’s hands. They couldn’t claim complete ignorance. There was a technical team from the Federal Government...
That studied the reason why. But the political pressures are above any god... any science. That is the truth. Society is paying for us to know. While the taxpayers are too busy with their daily lives... making money, raising children, etc... we’re in front of the computer, thinking. They allow us that because they pay our salaries. It’s a basic ethical, fundamental, philosophical obligation... of paying society back. LAWYERS - Most Brazilians were against it... and even so, congress revoked the code. That shows the distortion of our political system. The inadequacy of the Brazilian political system... that is expressed
now on the streets... AGRONOMIST - The populace has waken up... to this inadequacy, this crazy corruption... and this crazy distribution of jobs... which was also expressed in the Forest Code. This feeling of betrayal by congress... that they did something shady for corporate interests... has motivated people to go out on the streets. CONGRESSMAN, RS - It’s the people who vote. I’m in Brasília because someone voted for me. So, the people has to choose their representatives better. DIRECT UNCONSTITUTIONALITY ACTION We entered with a Direct Unconstitutionality Action... CONGRESSMAN, SP - against the Forest Code... for violating Article 225
of the Constitution. "Everyone has the right to a balanced environment." It’s everyone’s right because it’s essential... LAWYER - for the general quality of life. FEDERAL SUB-INSPECTOR - We see, little by little… everything we conquered with the Constitution threatened. As if we’d had a great moment of citizenship... and that started being slowly attacked... By federal and state laws. CONGRESSMAN, SP - The logic of prevention... preservation, and conservation was violated… by this amnesty, by the many changes... the rural lobby managed to get from Congress. THEORY OF PUBLIC POLICIES - Many barbaric acts were committed... against nature and
society. It won’t stand, because it can’t be sustained. You can’t make a case for having to poison... and contaminate the rivers and tear down forests. Nothing sustains that. CONGRESSMAN, SP - There’s a Constitution above... A minor law. There’s some unchangeable laws... and in the case of the Constitution... they are above specific discussions. One paragraph says: LAWYER - "It's the Public Power’s duty... to restore fundamental ecologically fundamental processes". If a balanced environment is essential... to those unbalanced areas... creating problems to our life quality... it’s the duty of the Brazilian State... to restore the fundamental ecological processes.
Those ecological processes that will assure... A balanced environment and therefore, rain… in the right time and right amount. The river flowing correctly and water we can drink. FEDERAL SUB-INSPECTOR - I divided it in three ADINS... because, actually, we refuted 53 devices... in the Forest Code, that has 84 articles. We refuted 53, it was a lot. So, we divided it in three themes: the first was Legal Reservation, the second was the issue... of consolidating environmental damages occurred until July 22, 2008... and the third was the Permanent Preservation Areas. AGRONOMIST - Now, I hope that… It leaves
the political sphere, like it was in the House and Senate... therefore, with no scientific input... in this discussion of the forests in the House and Senate... and also very little from the Executive. And that now there’s a more scientific, and not political views… in the Supreme Court. That is our hope. THANK YOU
