July 17, 2009
Brazil's agriculture can expand without deforestation
Brazilian agriculture land can expand significantly without deforesting the Amazon or other environmentally delicate areas, according to a study by WWF-Brasil on Wednesday (Jul 15).
The study by the Brazilian affiliate of the World Wildlife Fund looked at the impact of the global biofuels market on the expansion of Brazil's agriculture and the consequences for climate change.
The study said that the environmentally safe expansion of sugarcane, coffee and soy crops in Brazil is feasible provided that effective government policies are put in place.
Brazil needs policies that will not only guarantee the production of food crops and supply the global biofuels market, but also provide protection for the environment, WWF-Brasil's Secretary-General Denise Hamu said in a statement.
The study said some 60 million hectares of pastureland in a deteriorated condition that can be converted into agricultural use, nearly doubling national agriculture land, according to WWF.
The conversion of degraded pastureland for agricultural use would allow Brazil to address much of the increasing global demand for biofuel without further deforestation and without impacting existing food crops, the study concluded.
