Brazil Calls For Less Strict Environmental Rules
BRAZIL - The Brazilian Agriculture Minister is set to propose the adoption of environmental requirements for imports, if the environmental law in Brazil does not become less strict.
29 March 2010
1 minute read
The Minister, Reinhold Stephanes told the Brazil-Arab News Agency , that it is unfair that the country should quit producing food in certain areas (due to requirements imposed by a new law, the Brazilian Forestry Code) but then import from countries that are deforesters.
According to him, if Brazil were to adopt a “reciprocity law,” as he calls the restriction on foreign sales, there would be an impact on imports of wheat and milk from Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, and of fruits, olive oil, wines and cheese from Europe. The Ministry of Agriculture said that he will submit the proposal to the commission in charge of the law at the Congress, and that if it is not included in the new Forestry Code, he is going to submit a project of law.
The Minister hopes to stir up a debate on the matter, to alter the new law if it is imposed, so that it is not so strict.
The new law includes, for instance, a requirement for twenty metres of land at river banks not to be farmed. Minister Stephanes believes that the distance should be proportional to the size of the river at hand, and that it should be smaller in the case of creeks.
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