A reported jump in the rate of Amazon deforestation is unproven despite a government crackdown on tree cutting, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in comments published Thursday.
Silva said figures showing increased deforestation, issued last week by his Environment Ministry, have not yet been confirmed and more research is underway, according to reports in three major newspapers: Folha de S. Paulo, Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo.
He compared the situation to a patient who discovers a small tumor "and instead of doing a biopsy to find out how it should be treated, you leave saying you've got cancer."
The initial findings prompted Silva to order extra federal police and environmental agents to 36 areas where illegal clearing of the Amazon rain forest seemed to have jumped dramatically during the final five months of 2007 - reversing three years of widely touted improvement.
Environmentalists say increased demand for agricultural products, particularly soy and beef, has prompted farmers to carve fields and pastures from the rain forest. Brazil is the world's top exporter of beef, and is second only to the United States in soy exports.
But Silva said that "no one can be blamed until we investigate what happened."
Officials at the presidential palace did not release a text of the interview.
Under the measures announced last week, officials vowed to block new logging permits, to fine those who buy anything produced on illegally deforested land and to require re-registration of farms to ensure they were not illegally cleared.
The preliminary report indicated that as much as 2,700 square miles of rain forest was cleared from August through December. That would put Brazil on course to lose 5,790 square miles for the year ending in August - a 34 percent increase from the previous 12-month period.
David Fleischer, a political scientist with the University of Brasilia, said the report poses a dilemma for Silva because Brazil's agricultural sector is vital to the economy.
And while Silva wants to show the world that Brazil is combating deforestation, politicians from the three states where the worst deforestation was discovered are crucial to Silva's governing coalition, Fleischer said.
Municipal elections in October are key to securing support for the presidential election that will determine Silva's successor in 2010.
"With local elections coming up, he doesn't want to chastise these mayors," Fleischer said. "Lula is like an ostrich, sticking his head in the sand to avoid conflict."
Silva also criticized foreign-based non-governmental organizations that blamed officials for lax enforcement of environmental laws.
The president said those groups "should plant trees in their own countries," Folha de S. Paulo reported, though he did not name any.AP via Idaho Statesman
