From: Examiner.com
On November 27, 2009, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, claiming rich Western nations have caused much of the environmental destruction.
According to a concept called Indirect Land Use Change, or ILUC, corn used for ethanol production in the United States cuts into American grain exports and thus provide a bigger market for competitors such as Brazil.
This in turn leads to deforestation as Brazil expands its grain production to feed larger exports. And that's not all:
According to John Carter, a rancher from San Antonio, Texas, who moved to the northeast of Mato Grosso 13 years ago with his Brazilian wife "This is no man’s land and it’s a case of grab all you can while it’s still easy.”In fact, Brazil is still deforesting an area the size of Connecticut each year.
A 2008 study by the Imazon research group showed that only about 4 percent of the Amazon, or 50 million acres, has recognized land title. 32 percent has already been invaded illegally, while 43 percent is protected in the form of national parks and Indian reserves.
“There is a big financial incentive (from the United States) to invade public land and claim possession,” said Carter. “Once trees are cleared value increases tenfold, and this is happening on a huge scale..."
Amazon deforestation jumped by 69% in 2008 compared to 2007, according to official Brazilian government data. Even worse, deforestation could wipe out or severely damage nearly 60% of the Amazon Rainforest by 2030, says a new report from World Wildlife Fund.
Aside from biofuels, cattle ranching has also been blamed for much of the deforestation.
According to a report by Greenpeace Brazil, 80% of Amazon deforestation is due to the destruction of trees for establishing cattle pastures. Cattle ranching remains a very important industry in Brazil and is becoming even more vital to the Brazilian economy. In fact, the Brazilian commercial cattle herd is the largest in the world. Beef and milk are the two top livestock products in Brazil and exports of Brazilian beef grew to $8 billion (USD) in 2009.
A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that for every 1/4 lb hamburger consumed in the US from rainforest beef, about 55 square feet of rainforest was cleared.
And while many fast food chains claim not to use rainforest beef, this claim is simply not substantiated by fact. The USDA doesn't have an adequate system of labeling where beef is from; beef grown in the rainforest can pass through a processing plant in the US and still be labeled as domestic meat.
“Unfortunately standing forest has no monetary value,” said Joel Velasco, North America representative for the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association Unica."Until that changes, the law of economics means more trees fall.”