Brazil To Auction 1 Million Ha Of Rain Forest - Will Be "Privately Managed" By Timber Companies

[hatrack]

What could possibly go wrong?

(Reuters) - Brazil will auction large swaths of the Amazon forest to be managed by private timber companies and cooperatives to help reduce demand for illegal logging, a top official told Reuters on Monday. After years of legal battles and political opposition, the government is reviving concessions for private companies to log its national forests.

"The future of the Amazon -- combating deforestation and climate change -- is strengthening forest management. I don't see any other solution," Antonio Carlos Hummel, head of Brazil's National Forestry Service, said at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Summit. he government will grant private companies logging concessions for nearly 1 million hectares (2.47 million) by year-end and, within 4 to 5 years, nearly 11 million hectares (27 million acres), the size of the U.S. state of Virginia.

EDIT

While illegal logging usually produces wealth for only a few, forest concessions, at least on paper, generate lasting jobs and tax revenues for the government. Aware of failed private timber concessions in Africa and parts of Asia, Brazilian lawmakers took certain safeguards.

"We included a series of community control mechanisms," said Hummel, referring to non-government organizations that participate in public audits of concessions.

EDIT

Ed. - Emphasis added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69A4FI20101011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

[JohnWxy]

1. recommended.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. What could possibly go wrong?

:shrug:

[AlecBGreen]

3. the way i see it, they know

its going to be logged illegally anyway so why not make some cash off it? of course that overlooks the obvious need to CRACK DOWN on illegal logging. The wholesale destruction of our last remaining virgin forest is a crime against humanity