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To: elmatador who wrote (101641)	5/27/2008 5:43:11 AM
From: Doc Bones	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206106

Brazil Rainforest Analysis Sets Off Political Debate This is the problem I have with Brazil - they have destroyed a lot of rainforest, and the stronger their economy is, the more they are likely to destroy. The rainforest is probably the best protection against global warming we have, and preserving it is way more economically efficient than trying to sequester carbon at power plants, etc. Doc By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO May 25, 2008 SÃO JOSÉ DOS CAMPOS, Brazil — Gilberto Câmara, a scientist who leads Brazil’s national space agency, is more at ease poring over satellite data of the Amazon than being thrust into the spotlight. But since January, Dr. Câmara has been at the center of a political tug-of-war between scientists and Brazil’s powerful business interests. It started when he and his fellow engineers released a report showing that deforestation of Brazil’s portion of the rainforest seemed to have shot up again after two years of decline. Since then, Dr. Câmara, who leads the National Institute for Space Research here, has found himself having to defend his agency’s findings against one of Brazil’s richest and most powerful men: Blairo Maggi, who is governor of the country’s largest agricultural state, Mato Grosso, and a business owner known as the “Soybean King.” Governor Maggi was exercised enough by the report — which led to harsh measures stifling business in his state — that he asked for, and was granted, a meeting with the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The stakes could not be higher for Mr. da Silva. Stewardship of the Amazon has always been a touchy subject, with many Brazilians fearful that world powers would try to impose their standards on the rainforest. In recent years, the debate over the Amazon has intensified, with many outside the country seeing an intact rainforest as a key to controlling global warming. At the same time, Brazil’s economy has taken off — largely because of businesses that are claiming more of the Amazon’s land for crops and livestock, and more of its trees for logging. Mr. da Silva has spent the last several years walking a careful line, trying to maintain his image as Brazil’s first “green” president, which has gained him international cachet, without threatening Brazil’s agriculture industry at a time of soaring grain and meat prices. Dr. Câmara’s findings made the president’s balancing act harder and turned up the heat on what had been a long-simmering battle between businesses and environmentalists. It did not help that the scientists’ report, released in January, relied heavily on progressive deforestation, a relatively new measure that is is widely accepted by environmentalists but that Governor Maggi contends is tantamount to lying. The space agency argues that this slower-paced deforestation, where parts of the forest are thinned out little by little rather than at once, can be just as devastating. The criticism of the report worried scientists in and out of Brazil, including Dr. Câmara. “Science,” he said, “should not bow to authority.” The space agency, known as INPE, reported in January that deforestation had hit an estimated 4,300 square miles between August and December of last year. If that pace continues, the yearly total for deforestation would jump; the number was approximately 6,900 square miles from August 2006 to August 2007. The agency’s data also showed that 54 percent of the deforestation had occurred in Mato Grosso, Governor Maggi’s state, where the scientists said ranchers and loggers pushed farther into the rainforest. [continued at:] nytimes.com