Day 239 - 23 Apr 96 - Page 07
1 it, the President of Brazil promised to change some of his
2 government's policies in the Amazon.
3
4 THE ISSUE
5
6 Cattle ranching has been and probably remains the greatest
7 cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It is both
8 a primary and a secondary cause of deforestation: some
9 forest is cleared for cattle ranching when ranchers move in
10 as the first arrivals on a new frontier, some is cleared
11 when ranchers complete the deforestation begun by timber
12 cutters or colonists. Cattle ranching has a considerable
13 impact on the region's ecology, on its soil and on its
14 people."
15
16 When you talk about the "Brazilian" Amazon", what areas are
17 you talking about?
18 A. It can be defined in 2 ways: Either as the political
19 area, which is called in Brazil "Amazon Legal" or I prefer
20 to look at it as the "Phyto" geographical area, in other
21 words, the area which could be considered broadly
22 consistent in terms of the -----
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Of what geographical area?
25 A. "Phyto". It is the area which you would consider to
26 have a range of vegetation which is characteristic of the
27 region and that tends to extend beyond the political
28 borders of Amazonia Legal on the whole.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: We will come to the map. Perhaps the best way to
31 do it is to do that at the end, but if you need to clarify
32 anything, please do as we are going along. It might be
33 helpful, actually, if you just get the map down.
34 A. It looks like it is here.
35
36 Q. It should say "Brazil" on it. Yes, that is the one. If
37 you need to refer to it as we are going through, very
38 briefly, and we will deal with it in more detail at the
39 end.
40 A. Sure.
41
42 Q. Continuing to read:
43
44 "A: The cutting: Various techniques have been used in the
45 Amazon. They range from cutting with chainsaws, through
46 the use of heavy machinery (such as towing a chain between
47 two tractors) to spraying with petrol and burning. After
48 the forest is cut it is left to dry then burnt."
49 A. Perhaps, I could just clarify this "spraying with
50 petrol and burning". There is a continued process after
51 deforestation as well to maintain the pastures. It is very
52 difficult to maintain a pasture there because the trees
53 want to keep coming back, so you have to add considerable
54 applications of herbicide as time goes on, so it is an
55 ongoing process, that is what I want to make clear, rather
56 than a one-off one.
57
58 Q. Continuing to read:
59
60 "B. The agents: Many of the Amazon's ranchers are business
