Increase deforestation in Pantanal

Photo: Enviromental Military Police.
76 cities from Mato Grosso do Sul (a state constituted by 78 cities) produce vegetable charcoal and just 10% of al charcoaler is regulated.

The Justice from Mato Grosso do Sul has authorized mining industries not to carry out the Term of Commitment and Conduction (TCC) which prohibts the purchase of vegetable charcoal coming from seven cities - Corumbá, Ladário, Miranda, Bodoquena, Bonito, Jardim and Guia Lopes - placed on The High Basin of Paraguai where is placed too the Pantanal’s Plain. It’s unacceptable that a judicial decision admits the deforestation in Pantanal.

The alerts claiming that Pantanal is losing its vegetation have been reported for many years. In 2005 a study developed by International Conservation (IC) has identified that the vegetation from this region would be completely eliminated in just 45 years. Dossiers from Embrapa Pantanal, Federal Public Ministry and Environmental Impact Studies (AIS) developed by companies with the aim to obtain ambiental licencies, have evidenced the pressure above native vegetation.
 
This year, the IC revealed in a new study, that there isn’t sufficient vegetable charcoal yet to attend the demand from metallurgies from MS and from the illegal commerce  of wood from the Bolivia’s and Paraguay’s Pantanal. According to the study, Paraguay loses yearly, about U$80 millions in vegetable charcoal, smuggled through the frontiers.

But what is must impressing is that all of this facts aren’t sufficient to make Justice make decisions which integrate economy and collective benefit – Pantanal is a Natural Patrimony of Humanity.

For Ecoa, the judicial decision is one of the greatest environmental retrocession occurred in Mato Grosso do Sul. “It’s necessary to make all companies amplify their vision beyond profit and production. All of them must have a global vision of the ecosystem and realize that the native vegetation from Pantanal and Bodoquena’s Mountain Range is becoming charcoal and that this lost of vegetation will bring damages to many persons, practically everybody.”

Alessandro Menezes, president of Ecoa, says that this decision goes against what people wait from judicial authorities, mainly in this moment when the deforestation effects, caused by production of vegetable charcoal, is in evidence because of the climate changes.

ONGs: sustentable development

It’s important to stand out that environmental organizations which act in Pantanal aren’t against development, like the law office “Vanessa Lopes” says in a notice from the website O Eco (www.oeco.com.br), in April 11th. The organizations just work for the real compliment of the environmental legislation and to promote the balance between economical development, environment and population. 

An action which encourage this vision is the dialogue between ONGs, mining industries and metallurgy in MS. This process shows that non-governamental organizations are open for frank discussions with the objective to find alternatives which cause less impact on the environment.

To know more about the studies mentioned on the text and about the project "Dialogue Platform" click here (the informations are in portuguese).