Brazil's Catholic Church is the latest to publicly oppose a
controversial revamping of the country's "Forest Code," which activists
say would cause an environmental disaster.
The bill, which was
approved by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and is now before the
Senate, would rewrite some of the rules regarding protected areas, grant
amnesty to illegal deforestation that occurred before July 2008, and
give states greater control over preservation management.
Supporters
say that the bill will help landowners, especially small ones -- a
large number of whom currently violate existing conservation laws. By
changing the way that land set aside for preservation is calculated, it
would help many get back within the law.
But opponents say easing
deforestation laws will give a greenlight to developers and loggers to
fell more of the Amazon Rainforest.
On Friday, Brazil's Catholic
Church announced that it would count on its 12,000 parishes to circulate
a petition against the reforms, the state-run Agencia Brasil news
agency reported.
"Our main concern is the impact and consequences
of a law of this size on people's lives and the environment," the
church said in a statement.
"We urge our communities to
participate in the process of reform of the Forest Code, mobilizing
social forces and promoting a petition against the devastation," the
statement said.
Last year, the church was able
to collect more than 1 million signatures on a petition regarding
another piece of legislation, Agencia Brasil reported.
Once again, the
church said it's goal with the Forest Code petition is to foment public
discussion on the proposed bill.