Brasilien

A new initiative has been launched by Brazilian government agencies that will see the distribution of more that 2.2 million reals worth of funding to sustainable forestry projects before the end of the year.

The National Fund for Forestry Development (FNDF), which is being managed by the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB), is encouraging applications for funding from projects that aim to use the nation's forests in both enterprising and environmentally friendly ways.

The US and Brazil have signed an agreement whereby US$21 million (£13.5 million) of Brazilian debt will be put into a fund for the protection of the country’s rainforest and tropical ecosystems.

The US has agreed that instead of paying back its debt, the money will be utilised to protect the Caatinga and Cerrado ecosystems and conserve the rainforest on the Atlantic coast. These three areas in Brazil are currently under threat of serious deforestation but do not receive as much attention or publicity as the Amazon region.

A new bridge has come to symbolise Brazil's most challenging and urgent issue: balancing the demands of economic development with environmental protection

Ten-year figures for the Brazilian timber industry show that production in the Amazon has fallen by 50 per cent.

The figures were published in a study carried out by the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) and the Institute of Man and Environment (Imazon), entitled 'Logging Activities in the Brazilian Amazon.'

They show that in 1998, roundwood production in the region was 28.3 million cubic metres while the figures for 2009 show total production to be only 14.2 million cubic metres.

Jul 01, 2010 – Seattle, USA. June, 2010. Eucalyptus pulplog prices in Brazil have been very stable in the local currency and they have hardly changed at all since 2006, as reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly. In US dollar terms, on the other hand, wood fiber costs have increased substantially because of the strengthening of the Brazilian Real.