The Brazilian government’s satellite monitoring system, “Deter,” registered a 27% increase in deforestation in the period running from August 2010 to April 2011, along with an abnormal increase in the clearing of forestland during the last two months. Up more than 400%, and in the rainy season when it is more difficult to clear land.

It was exactly during the last two months that discussions of a new Land Use Code (Código Florestal) were taking place around the country and in Congress.

There is little doubt that many farmers were clearing land apace because they were afraid that a new Código Florestal would hamper efforts to expand cropland and cattle pasture.

Also, even if there are restrictions on future deforestation, those same farmers expect to be forgiven for all past illegal deforestation.

The state of Mato Grosso (capital: Cuiabá; population: 3 million (3.4 inhabitants per square kilometer); area: slightly over 900,000 square kilometers, just a little smaller than Venezuela, but bigger than the states of Texas and Oklahoma together) had the highest rate of forestland destruction, with many square kilometers cleared of trees and undergrowth.

“At this moment we cannot pinpoint the reason for the spike in deforestation,” declared minister Teixeira, who added that the Mato Grosso state office of Environment  was going to submit a report.

However, she did note that the state government had informed the ministry that deforestation was taking place within state laws that were recently approved on revised economic and ecological zoning laws.

Minister Teixeira declared that the ministry had not seen the text of the new laws as they had not been formally presented to the federal government.

She added that there was no doubt about the unusual aspect of what was happening in Mato Grosso with very large areas, as big as a thousand square kilometers, being cleared at a time, along with the use of chains pulled by tractors to uproot trees.

The minister said that at this moment there are 500 inspectors in Mato Grosso examining areas where deforestation occurred. She also reported that a crisis cabinet had been set up to deal with the situation and was meeting weekly to discuss the matter of forest destruction nationwide.

The crisis cabinet consists of representatives from the ministries of Environment, Science and Technology, the National Institute of Space Research (Inpe that controls the satellites used to monitor deforestation) and the Federal Police.

Izabella Teixeira also said that if cattle or crops are found in areas that were illegally cleared they would be confiscated and donated to the government’s Hunger Zero Program (Fome Zero), which gives food to very low-income families.

Meanwhile the minister of Science and Technology, Aloizio Mercadante, declared that chronological records of what was happening were being compiled at the same time that inspectors in the field were being informed in real time by satellite of the situation in areas that were the object of embargoes. Mercadante revealed that next year a more modern and efficient satellite will go into operation.

ABr

The company is a branch of Companhia do Avestruz, from Mato Grosso, which produces ostrich meat and accessories like leather products, including handbags and shoes, for example.

According to the marketing director at the company, Tânia Kramm da Costa, ostrich oil is rich in substances like omega 3, 6 and 9, as well as vitamins D and E, thus having tonic and hydrating properties.

The line of cosmetics has been under development since 2006, with the release of two products late last year. “We already have a good return in the local market,” said Tânia. “We are now going to start selling to other states and preparing the ground for exports, starting in 2011.”

Abroad, the objective is to start in the Mercosur, the customs union that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. “This is due to the proximity and ease for market access,” said the executive.

Then the plan is to go to regions like Europe and the Middle East. “We know that the Arab countries are greatly interested in Brazilian cosmetics,” said Tânia. “We are going to get ready to invest in this, to research these markets,” she explained.

For use in the cream, ostrich oil is triple-filtered to eliminate residues. The products also include ingredients like honey, flowers and fruit, like green apple and Brazil cherry, among others.

Apart from female audiences, the company also plans to invest in men, with products like hand cream developed for them.

Anba

Litaiff and Sicsú were at the Ginásio Municipal Geraldo Granjeiro, covering a speech by Vicente Lira, who is running for mayor. According to Litaiff, a man who identified himself as a bodyguard of the impeached ex-mayor Rodrigo Alves approached her and told her they could not stay there.

"I said, of course I can, this is a public place, everyone has the right to be here. He responded, 'but you can't stay here, because your newspaper doesn't support us'," Litaiff explained.

The bodyguard, together with other persons present, threatened to punch the journalists and break their equipment if they did not leave the area, according to Litaiff. Hostile statements, such as "they are against Rodrigo (the former mayor) and must be hit," and "if you guys stay one more minute here, everyone is going to hit you," were uttered against the journalists.

The chief of Coari's Civil House, Daniel Maciel, who was at the convention, denies that an assault occurred. "I saw some small animosity, but I did not see an assault nor her being kicked out," he says.

Litaiff says she went to the 10th Regional Police Office of Coari on the
same day to file a complaint but there was no official present to register
the case.

"I went back there on Monday. This time there was no paper . . . I returned in the afternoon, when I was told that the police chief was needed, but that he was on a trip," said the journalist, who finally gave up and did not file a complaint.

Litaiff and Sicsú work in Manaus, capital city of Mato Grosso, and were in Coari for a few days, in order to make a report about the city's paradoxes.

"Coari is the city in northern Brazil that receives the most royalties from Petrobras (the Brazilian oil company). How can 15,000 children be out of school there?" the journalist asked.

Elections will be held in Coari on September 22, since Alves, the last mayor, was impeached under charges of buying votes. He and another former mayor, Adail Pinheiro, have also been on trial on pedophilia charges.

The figures were presented by the secretary of Industry, Trade, Mines and Energy of the state, Pedro Nadaf, who is also the president of the Deliberative Committee of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in Mato Grosso, at the ceremony for inauguration of the Permanent Export Council (CPEX-MT), last week, in the offices of state governor Blairo Maggi.

The new organization, their creators say, should serve as an instrument for dialogue and articulation between public organizations and private enterprises, diversifying the state's export basket and guiding the implementation of new incentive policies.

The council was established by state Law 8,774, of December 20, 2007, aimed at serving as a mechanism for support and analysis of imports and exports of the state of Mato Grosso, helping businessmen of large, medium and small size who may be interested in investing in foreign trade.

The Council includes 17 institutions, among them the Federation of Industries, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Revenue Service, the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), Porto Seco, the Bank of Brazil, the Federal Savings Bank and the Secretariat of Finance. The organization is presided by state governor Blairo Maggi and the vice president is Pedro Nadaf.

"The intention is to expand the economic process in the state, not only improving the trade balance, but also making Mato Grosso a gateway for imports, establishing a favorable environment for regional development," explained Nadaf.

Governor Blairo Maggi emphasized the importance of the Mato Grosso state Sebrae as a partner in this process and recalled that "foreign trade is a two-way highway, which should be explored as best as possible by all those involved, so it is necessary to look at micro and small companies."

According to Maggi, the council has three main objectives: to diagnose the reason why the state imports so little, to forecast problems that could arise in future – mainly with regard to trade barriers – and to propose policy changes that may serve as incentives to the insertion of a greater number of companies. He also added that this should be done with the support of the Bank of Brazil and of the Sebrae.

Sebrae

In this specific case, the expansion took place as a consequence of increased productivity, as harvested area saw a reduction of 6.5% from 2006 to 2007.

The country's leading soy producer state, Mato Grosso (Midwest) answered to 26.3% of the national total, with a production of 15.2 million tons  -  which was still 2% lower than that of 2006.

The second leading producer state, according to data supplied by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Paraná (South) answered to 20.5% of the total crop, or 11.8 million tons; next comes Rio Grande do Sul (South) with a crop of 9.9 million tons and growth of 31.3% over 2006.

The figures also show that the five leading soy producer municipalities in 2007 were all within the state of Mato Grosso: Sorriso (2.9% share of national production); Sapezal (1.7%); Nova Mutum (1.7%); Campo Novo de Parecis (1.5%); and Diamantino (1.4%).

The figures were culled from the 2007 Municipal Agricultural Survey  -  Grain, Leguminous and Oleaginous Plants, disclosed today (17) by the IBGE.

The community expects the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) to comply with its promise to hold a meeting with the Federal Police in the community to try and solve this problem.
 
According to Maria Aparecida Toroekure, chief of the indigenous group, the invaders have been threatening them for 20 days already, but since January 28 they began to act more aggressively. Twenty of the 28 indigenous people who lived in the indigenous area left after these threats.
 
Aparecida believes that threats like these are made because people believe that they can commit crimes against the Bororo people and get away with it.

"They think they can kill a Bororo or set fire to a truck belonging to a Bororo and get away with it," she said. She was referring to the murder of Elenilson Batare in March 2007 and to an incident involving her son-in-law in December 2006.
 
The manager of the Support Center of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) in the city of Rondonópolis pledged to visit the area with Federal Police (PF) officers. However, Aparecida fears that the authorities will not take any measures as they didn't take any in the past. "Before they set fire to the truck, we had reported these threats to Funai three times," she said.
 
The Jarudore land was demarcated in 1945 with 4,070 hectares, but it has been occupied by different invaders. In June 2006, Aparecida and other people from the Bororo community reoccupied part of the indigenous land with the aim of pressuring Funai and the court system to speed up the removal of invaders from it.
 
Since then, they have been threatened and have suffered acts of aggression from some invaders. Aparecida stressed that she does not feel intimidated by this situation: "I will only leave this area after I am dead. This is a legally registered area. We have the right to live here."
 
Five people of the Bororo community from the Sangradouro village arrived there today (January 31) and will stay for some days with Aparecida and her family to support the indigenous community.

With a capacity for 18 million liters (4.8 million gallons) per year, the work, which will have an investment of approximately 2 billion reais (US$ 940.7 million), is part of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) of the Brazilian federal government, and was confirmed last Thursday, March 1st, Brazil's Ministry of Planning, Paulo Bernardo, in Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state.

Bernardo visited Curitiba, along with Finance Minister Guido Mantega to participate in the Southern Regional Forum of the Council for Economic and Social Development. During the forum, the PAC was officially presented to businessmen and political leaders in the region.

In addition to industry executives and politicians from Paraná, also attending the meeting were businessmen and representatives of the Federations of Industries of the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

Construction work should begin in 2008. By the end of 2006, technical and engineering studies should be concluded. Afterwards, a tender will be issued for hiring contractors.

The multi-pipeline, which will also be capable of transporting gasoline and diesel, is going to cross the city of Araucária, in the Greater Curitiba region, where the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery (Repar) is based. The plant has a processing capacity of 189,000 oil barrels per day.

The work had been a dream of businessmen and politicians in Paraná for 10 years. The initial idea was to build a gas pipeline to bring in gas from Bolivia, passing through Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and crossing the northeast and north of the state before getting to the Port of Paranaguá.

The transformation of the gas pipeline into a multi-pipeline will also allow for the transportation of alcohol fuel, of which Paraná is one of the country's largest producers. In the 2005/2006 crop, the state produced 1 million cubic meters of alcohol, of which 35% consisted of anhydrous alcohol (used as an additive to gasoline) and 65% of hydrated alcohol (vehicle fuel).

The multi-pipeline is part of a set of works for the southern Brazilian region, which, according to federal government plans, will receive investments of up to 37.5 billion reais (US$ 17.6 billion) by 2010. The funds will be invested, in infrastructure works, such as roads, ports and airports, in partnership with the private sector.

Omar Nasser works for Fiep (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná)

Anba

These lands are the Batelão and Cururuzinho lands of the Kayabi people; the Manoki land of the Irantxe people; the Teresa Cristina land of the Bororo people; the Baí­a do Guató land of the Guató people; and the Portal do Encantado land of the Chiquitano people.

Other peoples have not managed to ensure the setting up of technical groups to identify their traditional lands or parts of them, which were excluded from previous demarcation procedures.

These include the Castanhal and Tucunzal lands of the Myky people; the Rio Preto land of the Enawenê Nawê people; the lands of the Chiquitano people and the Pontal land of the Apiaka people.

Lands such as the Jarudori land of the Bororo people and the Urubu Branco land of the Tapirapé people have been invaded. The Marãiwatsede land of the Xavante people has been occupied by invaders and the indigenous people have been confined to a small space and prevented from circulating inside their own territory, although it has been demarcated, confirmed and registered.

Despite recent police operations to control deforestation in the state of Mato Grosso, problems caused by the illegal extraction of timber and pollution continue and have become more serious as a result of the expansion of soybean monoculture schemes, which pollute waters and affect entire rivers.

Indigenous people who live in isolation in the Rio Pardo indigenous land continue to face the threat of genocide, which will only be eliminated after all invaders of their lands are removed from them and they are demarcated and protected.

The evaluation of the situation of indigenous lands in the state of Mato Grosso was made by bishops, religious people and lay persons who are members of the Indianist Missionary Council during the Assembly of the Regional Office of the organization in Mato Grosso, which was held on July 17-21 in São Félix do Araguaia.

In a manifesto, they stated that the above-mentioned situations should be immediately addressed by the Brazilian State, or else they will contribute to the ethnocide and genocide of these peoples.

In their evaluation, they say that "the moratorium on the demarcation of indigenous lands imposed by the government of the state of Mato Grosso, the use of these lands as political currency and the inaction of the federal administration are the causes of this dramatic situation."

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council – www.cimi.org.br

The difference is that there are hundreds of rivers and ponds there. And there are many varieties of animals jumping into the water. There are around 260 kinds of fish and 50 kinds of reptiles, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

And that is not all: there are hundreds of species running on land and about the same in the sky, all in an area of approximately 140,000 square kilometers of the Pantanal in Brazilian territory (the wetland also covers parts of Bolivia and Paraguay).

Such biodiversity has attracted very specific tourists: bird watchers. They come mostly from Europe and the United States. They bring in their luggage binoculars, telescopes, field guides about birds and notebooks.

"The objective is not only to spy the exuberance of the landscape of the Pantanal, it is to understand the nature of the animals that move around it, to have a more intimate knowledge of each species. I call this voyeurism of nature," explained Maurício Copetti, a lover of the region and owner of inn Refúgio da Ilha, in the city of Miranda, in Mato Grosso do Sul.

Copetti was one of the first to offer observation of birds in the Pantanal. Originally from the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, from the vicinity of São Borja, he spent some time living in Europe, in Italy and London.

In 1998, tired of living in large cities, he packed his bags and returned to Brazil full of ideas and sure of one thing: he wanted to change his lifestyle. He went to the Pantanal, joined forces with his parents, who were considering the possibility of opening the inn, and together they established Refúgio da Ilha. The inn is small – just seven rooms -, rustic, but comfortable.

"It was born focussing on a specific public: guests who want to escape the conventional tourism of masses. The idea was to offer visitors total interaction with nature in one of the richest ecosystems on the planet," he said.

The business worked out so well – almost exclusively from word-of-mouth marketing, according to him – that in 2003 Copetti took one more important step towards advertising Brazil as a route for birdwatchers. He established an expedition program around the Pantanal.

The route is similar to the kind of tourism that is executed in South Africa, Australia and Borneo. "This, at least, is what our visitors are saying. They say that the Pantanal is already equal to these regions that already explore their wildlife," he said.

Most of the tourists participating in the expeditions come from Europe. They are, mostly, Dutch, English, Austrians and Germans. But the idea is to further spread the activity. Arab tourists are on the agenda, but no specific action has yet been executed.

The program that Copetti has established works as follows: the group of tourists – between eight and 12 people – may stipulate the schedule. They decide whether they are going to spend nine or 12 days observing the local fauna.

During the period, however, they do not stay at just one inn, they travel to other farms in the region after different creatures. Their adventures include not only exuberant birds like the blue macaw, the seriema and toucans, but also cougars, otters and anteaters.

The period of observation is also defined by the visitor. They may spend 15 minutes observing just one animal. "The idea is to understand how the creature lives, to watch the movement they make to feed, to hunt. And all of this live, in the animal’s environment, it is not like at a zoo," he explained.

San Francisco

Copetti’s initiative also provided incentives for other inns to make use of bird watching in the Pantanal. This is the case of San Francisco farm, which belongs to Beth Prudêncio Coelho. The family’s cattle farm since 1975, San Francisco has undergone some changes so as to become a bird paradise.

"In 1983 we implemented a large irrigation project, with channels that recall the irrigation systems of Egypt. In that area, we started growing mostly rice. With the plantation and irrigation, birds and other animals started becoming more common visitors to the farm," recalled Beth.

In 2004, due to a greater number of guests, Beth started promoting bird watching on her farm. She hired biologist Alyson Vieira de Melo and started a file of all the species that may be observed at San Francisco.

The last study by the biologist showed the existence of 307 species of birds – almost half of the number of animals that live in the Pantanal, according to figures by the WWF, which, in 1999, catalogued 650.

At San Francisco, the program is also executed according to the customer’s profile. "I believe that five days on the farm are enough to observe the species that visit the area," explained Beth. And everything may be written down.

Each one of the guests at San Francisco is given a pad showing all the species that visit the farm so that he may tick the ones he has observed during his stay. "If he has seen them all, he may then go to the partner inn: Baía das Pedras," explained Beth.

Rita Lima e Jurgielewicz, the owner of Baía das Pedras, also inaugurated the bird watching activity a short while ago. The idea was born after she noticed the interest her guests showed in the matter.

Like Beth, Rita also hired a biologist to identify the species that visit the farm. The result of the work should be ready in some months. "We are cataloguing everything to make a list for the visitors," she explained.

Best Period

According to Maurício Copetti, the best period in which to visit the Pantanal is between May and October. That is because it is the dry season, when rivers return to their original beds – after the rains.

"In these months it is possible to visit sites that are flooded between October and March. However, the wet season is the most exuberant," he explained. Beth Coelho adds: September is also the breeding period of a large part of the birds, which favors the observation of bird fauna.

How to Get There

To explore the Pantanal region where the inns that are specialized in bird watching are located, the ideal route is to travel to Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, and, from there, to fly in a one-engine aircraft or to drive. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are the ideal vehicles.

Baía das Pedras and San Francisco have landing strips. They are about 50 minutes away from Campo Grande. By car, on the other hand, the trip may take between three and seven hours.

You may get to Refúgio da Ilha by car or boat. The landing strip for small aircraft is closed. The inn is 225 kilometers away from Campo Grande, and the distance may be covered in three hours.

Service

Baía das Pedras
Rates: between R$ 285 (US$ 135 for a double room) and R$ 320 (US$ 150 for a single room)
www.baiadaspedras.com.br

Refúgio da Ilha
Rates: R$ 425 (US$ 200 in a double room)
www.refugiodailha.com.br

San Francisco
Rates: between R$ 215 (US$ 100, in a collective room) and R$ 340 (US$ 160 for a single room)
www.fazendasanfrancisco.com.br

Bilingual guides are not included in these rates. The rates include meals and outings. The values may vary, depending on the number of days the visitor is going to stay at the inn.

Other sites

www.birdinginpantanal.com.br
www.pantanalwilderness.com.br

Anba – www.anba.com.br

Police have arrested 27 people accused of illegal land appropriation and possible genocide in a 120-officer operation in Mato Grosso state, about 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

"We perceived that this group of Indians was being systematically persecuted. We found settlements that had been hastily abandoned, with the Indians leaving their belongings behind," Armando Soares Filho, of the Federal Indian Bureau’s Department of Isolated Indians, said in a telephone interview from Brasí­lia, the nation’s capital.

Government anthropologists first detected traces of the tribe in 1998. In 2001, the bureau issued a decree banning outsiders from about 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres) of rainforest, to allow anthropologists to contact the tribe and demarcate a reservation.

The tribe doesn’t have a name, although it has been referred to as the Rio Pardo tribe, after a nearby river. Little is known about the group, except that they likely are hunter-gatherers and have up to 15 members.

This week, Brazil’s Globo TV network showed the first images of the tribe filmed by anthropologists, which showed an Indian cutting a tree trunk in the company of two women.

Soares said the contact proved the Indians exist, but not much else. Anthropologists still don’t know what language the Indians speak or if they are related to other tribes.

The bureau also discovered Brazilians trying to chase the Indians away, and destroy signs of their presence, in order to keep the area from being declared a reservation.

"We found a group of men in the area with global positioning systems, chainsaws, ammunition and two bombs. They were clearly trying to chase the Indians out or exterminate them," said Soares.

He said they also found evidence linking the settlers to local politicians, ranchers and loggers. Based on that, public prosecutors have issued more than 70 arrest warrants and are investigating whether Indians were killed by the group.

The Indian rights group Survival International praised the government’s efforts Wednesday.

"The total destruction of a tribe, however small, is genocide. The land of the Rio Pardo Indians must be recognized and protected now, or their annihilation will be complete," director Stephen Corry, said in a press release.

About 700,000 Indians live in Brazil, mostly in the Amazon region. About 400,000 live on reservations and try to maintain their culture, language and lifestyle.

This article appeared originally in Pravda – www.pravda.ru.