LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Deforestation: Brazils
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Global warming receives a substantial input of greenhouse gases from Amazonian deforestation, although the majority of the gases released by humanity as a whole come from burning fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal rather than from deforestation. However, over three-fourths of Brazil’s contribution to this global problem is the result of Amazonian deforestation. Half of the dry weight of the trees is carbon, and when forest is cut this carbon is released to the atmosphere either as carbon dioxide or as methane, both from burning and from decomposition of wood that fails to burn. The fact that most deforestation is for cattle pastures that do little either for the national economy or for providing employment to the population offers an opportunity to slow deforestation as part of a program for mitigating global warming. The value of the damage done by greenhouse-gas emissions from deforestation far exceeds the value of the timber, beef and other products that are sold as a result of the clearing.
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In Brazil the rate of deforestation is largely driven by commodity prices. Recent development of a new variety of soybean has led to the displacement of beef ranches and farms of other crops, which, in turn, move farther into the forest. Certain areas such as the Atlantic Rainforest have been diminished to less than 10% of their original size and the Amazon Rainforest is awaiting the same fate at 600 fires daily. Although much conservation work has been done, few national parks or reserves are efficiently enforced.
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The cause of deforestation is a very complex subject. A competitive global economy forces the need for money in poorer tropical countries. At the national level, the governments sell logging concessions to raise money for projects, to pay international debt, or to develop industry. Brazil had an international debt of $159 billion in 1995, on which it must make payments each year. The logging companies seek to harvest the forest and make profit from the sales of valuable hardwoods (such as mahogany) and pulp.
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Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. This has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. However, today the situation may be even worse. According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), "between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent" and by 2003 "for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production—80 percent of which was in the Amazon—was largely export driven."
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A state of lawlessness prevails in substantial areas in Amazonia, leading to distinctive “leaps” in the deforestation frontier. Most notorious is the “Terra do Meio”, or “Middle Lands” to the west of the Xingu River encompassing the Iriri River basin. This area, the size of Switzerland, has effectively been outside of the control of the Brazilian government and is the realm of drug traffickers, illegal loggers and grileiros, or large land thieves who appropriate land through fraudulent (and sometimes violent) means. Declaration of a series of reserves in the area in 2005, following the assassination of Sister Dorothy Stang, is a hopeful sign that the lawless condition is subject to change. The activities of grileiros continue in other locations, most recently increasing in the southern part of the state of Amazonas.
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Brazilian land taxes lead to increased rates of deforestation. Brazil's land tax system is actually progressive in theory, and could offset the negative effects of the income tax system, but since so many tax exemptions exist, the rates are not progressive in practice. The major problem associated with land taxes is how land use is defined. Basically, the more the land is used, the less it is taxed. Uncleared forest land is considered unused, resulting in higher taxes. If that land were simply cleared for no reason, taxes would fall.
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