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RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBR #0893/01 1981335
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171335Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4699
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 4316
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7998
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9747
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000893 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EINV ECON EAGR KSCA BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: CONTENTIOUS LAW ENACTED TO HELP CLARIFY MURKY LAND 
OWNERSHIP ISSUE IN THE AMAZON 
 
REF: A) BRASILIA 123, B) BRASILIA 244 
 
BRASILIA 00000893  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
(U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AND NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  On June 25, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula 
da Silva signed legislation (Law No. 11952) that addresses a key 
factor underlying Brazil's serious deforestation problem, i.e., the 
lack of clear title to land in the Amazon region.  This new law 
provides farmers and ranchers occupying small plots in the Amazon 
since December 2004 with clear title for free or a low price without 
looking too closely at how the land - mostly formerly public land - 
was acquired.  The lack of definite owners has impeded efforts by 
the authorities to influence the land "owners" to conserve or 
restore the forests.  This new law lays the groundwork to address 
compliance with the Forest Code for the nearly 20 percent of the 
Amazon Forest that was cleared prior to 2005.  Many 
environmentalists worry that the new law might lead to more 
deforestation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Brazil has a serious problem with deforestation in the 
Amazon region.  Though it has made progress, last year over 12,000 
square kilometers were cleared, most of it illegally.  There are 
three fundamental challenges in addressing deforestation in Brazil. 
First, very few of the people occupying the land have clear title to 
it.  Many of them illegally invaded the land (which is mostly owned 
by the federal government) or acquired the land from such an 
invader.  Second, the people occupying land in the Amazon generally 
do not comply with the requirement in the Forest Code to maintain 80 
percent of the forest on the land (or for small landowners, 50 
percent).  And third, a small fraction of the twenty million plus 
people in the region are invading and clearing new areas.  There is 
general agreement within the President's cabinet that clearing up 
who owns the land in the Amazon will help in persuading the "owner" 
to bring the land into compliance with the environmental rules. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) While the Brazilian political elite agrees that the 
government should try harder to prevent new land invasions and 
clearing, there is a bitter dispute over how to address the other 
two challenges of land title for previously cleared land and 
compliance with the Forest Code.  Environment Minister Carlos Minc 
argues that the two issues need to be solved simultaneously. 
Former-Minister of Strategic Planning Roberto Mangabeira Unger, on 
the other hand, has contended that the issues needed to be separated 
and that the land title issue should be resolved first.  (NOTE: 
Mangabeira Unger resigned in July.  END NOTE.)  Yet a third 
minister, Minister of Agriculture Reinhold Stephanes who supports 
the "rural bench," has long sought to water down the Brazilian 
Forest Code (REFTEL A) by reducing the required forest reserve in 
the Amazon region from 80 percent to 50 percent.  Stephanes also 
supports amnesty for agriculture producers who illegally occupied 
land or illegally cleared forests in protected areas prior to July 
¶2007.  Environment Minister Minc insisted that the 80 percent 
requirement be preserved, and so far the Forest Code remains 
unchanged. 
 
A STEP FORWARD:  LAW NO. 11952 
 
¶4.  (SBU) On February 10, 2009, President Lula signed Provisional 
Measure No. 458 (MP 458) (REFTEL B), which established the guiding 
principles to grant legal title to occupiers of small and medium 
plots of public land - up to 1,500 hectares - in the Amazon region. 
Both chambers of the Brazilian Congress later passed MP 458, and on 
June 25, 2009, President Lula signed the legislation, turning MP 458 
into Law No. 11952.  The law provides legal title to up to 67.4 
million hectares of formerly public land. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Basically, Law No. 11952 provides that farmers and 
ranchers occupying plots in the Amazon since December 2004 of up to 
100 hectares in size will have legal title granted to them free of 
charge.  A flexible criterion will be used for plots between 100 and 
400 hectares in area, whereby the title will either be donated or 
sold to the occupier at a price set by the Ministry for Agrarian 
Reform (MDA).  For plots from 400 to 1,500 hectares in area, MDA 
will sell them to the current occupiers at the market price, with 
payments stretched out over a 20-year period.  For plots between 
1,500 and 2,500 hectares, the occupier can opt to claim a part of 
the plot up to 1,500 hectares or compete for the whole plot at 
public auction.  Plots over 2,500 hectares in area will remain with 
the government, which may or may not decide to hold a public 
auction.  Despite former Minister Mangabeira Unger's objections, 
title to the land is contingent on the owner coming into compliance 
with the environmental laws within three years.  COMMENT:  This 
provision may prove a difficult requirement to meet for many farmers 
 
BRASILIA 00000893  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
and ranchers in the region.  END COMMENT. 
 
ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE CONCERNED BY THE PRECEDENT 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The legislation unleashed strident protests from 
environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  Paulo Moutinho 
from the respected Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) 
told Post's Environment, Science and Technology Counselor that this 
measure would be rewarding those who acted illegally to clear the 
forests and, worse, it would create incentives for others to 
illegally occupy and clear more forested areas with the assumption 
that some day in the future they too would get amnesty and receive 
title to their stolen land.  Paulo Barreto, a senior researcher at 
IMAZON, a well-known NGO focused on the Amazon, expressed a similar 
concern.  Further, Climate Action Network - a network of 
international non-governmental organizations - criticized the 
legislation for serving the interests of those who wish to exploit 
the forest. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) On the other hand, the head of the Brazilian Forest 
Service, Antonio Carlos Hummel, while recognizing this concern, 
stated that "this measure was necessary to resolve the chaotic 
situation with land titles in the Amazon region.  It ended up being 
a necessary evil."  Minister Minc got swept up in the debate and at 
one event told the crowd that "farmers are bandits."  This comment 
earned Minc a dressing down by President Lula and scathing attacks 
from the agriculture sector.  Later Minc said that he had been 
misunderstood and called the final vesion of the law a good bill. 
While President Lula rejected calls to fire Minc, he stated that, 
"no one may go around saying that someone is a bandit just because 
of deforestation."  He continued, "these people were working to 
further the development of the country and were incentivized to do 
that.  They were 'trailblazers'." 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT.  The concern over amnesty for previous land 
invaders inspiring future invaders is a legitimate one. 
Nonetheless, Law 11952 seems a reasonable attempt to put in place 
legislation to address the widely recognized problem of lack of 
clear land ownership in the Amazon.  The law lays the groundwork to 
address compliance with the Forest Code for the nearly 20 percent of 
the Amazon Forest that was cleared prior to 2005.  The government 
hopes that by granting ownership to residents of the Amazon, it will 
serve to increase payment of taxes and compliance with environmental 
rules.  The Brazilian Forest Service Director General Hummel aptly 
called the legislation a "necessary evil."  We agree.  END COMMENT 
 
KUBISKE