Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc accuses other government ministries of disregarding environmental laws in pursuit of Amazon development projects.
Brazil's environment minister said he blasted other government ministries during a meeting with the nation's president on Thursday, accusing them of disregarding environmental laws in pursuit of Amazon development projects.Environment Minister Carlos Minc has been at odds with other ministers since taking his post a year ago, and similar infighting forced out his predecessor, Sen. Marina Silva.
After his meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia, Minc said other unnamed government ministers are going behind his back to Congress, "each with their little hatchets, pushing amendments that tear to pieces and disfigure environmental legislation."
His meeting with Silva was "a conversation just between us, tete-a-tete, eye to eye. And I told the president that the environment is being attacked by Congress and society."
Minc voiced special concern about the paving of a two-lane road that runs through the heart of the Amazon between the jungle cities of Manaus and Porto Velho. Minc and other environmentalists say paving the road will accelerate deforestation. Soy farmers and ranchers say it is vital for getting their products to market.
Minc said state companies involved in paving the 500-mile (800-kilometer) BR-319 highway were not following environmental laws, and that he was "ethically and morally" bound to no longer approve construction contracts for work on the highway, which he labeled an "environmental disaster."
"BR-319 crosses the heart of the best preserved parts of the Amazon, and with the announcement of its reconstruction, deforestation accelerated," he said.
At issue is the balance between preservation and economic development in the Amazon, whose survival is crucial in the struggle against global climate change, according to many climate scientists.
They say the cutting or burning of Amazon trees releases an estimated 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.
Environmentalists have long accused Stephanes and Silva of leaning too far toward the expansion of farms that lead to deforestation.
Minc said that the president promised not to allow weakening of environmental legislation, though he didn't go into details.