2003 articles

On virtually every major issue - from Amazon deforestation and genetically modified food to nuclear power and squatter invasions of national parks - Mr. da Silva has turned his back on them, environmentalists say, in many cases abandoning campaign pledges.

The hottest spark to ignite the discontent that had simmered for months was Mr. da Silva's decision in September to approve the planting of genetically modified soybeans.

"I always defended a Green-Red coalition in Brazil, supposing that the Red component would act like European Social Democrats," Mr. Gabeira said in an interview here. "But I have found that they act more like Eastern European Communist leaders."

...they concentrated power in a small elite that "breaks with party policies without talking to its partners" and "leaves environmental devastation behind."
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Brazil's Environmentalists Crying Foul
By LARRY ROHTER
Published: November 21, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/international/americas/21BRAZ.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=2dba49a32534665a&ex=1069995600&partner=GOOGLE

BRASÍLIA - The environmental movement celebrated when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected Brazil's president in October last year. More than a year later, though, that relationship is in danger of falling apart, with environmentalists talking of betrayal.

On virtually every major issue - from Amazon deforestation and genetically modified food to nuclear power and squatter invasions of national parks - Mr. da Silva has turned his back on them, environmentalists say, in many cases abandoning campaign pledges.

The environmental movement "expected more" from Mr. da Silva, "not less," said Stephan Schwartzman of Environmental Defense, one of 500 groups that recently sent the president a letter expressing their disappointment. "This government still has an opportunity to make positive changes on the important questions, but it has to act now."

As the government sees it, such complaints are premature, as it searches for a way to spur development and work with both business leaders and environmentalists.

"The idea of an integrated policy is something new and has never been done before," Marina Silva, the environmental minister, said in an interview. "You can't expect to have a new paradigm fully in place after barely nine months in power."

Mr. da Silva has taken some steps to stem the erosion of his support. He postponed the paving of a major Amazon highway and supported a "bio-security plan" to control the growth and sale of genetically modified soybeans.

But the government's new multiyear development plan suggests that more disagreements lie ahead. The proposal contains money for many projects that environmental groups oppose, from dam construction and highway paving projects in the Amazon to reversing the course of the São Francisco River.

"This is the government's road map, and it is a sign that they are not going to change," Denise Hamu, director of the Brazilian branch of the World Wildlife Federation, said in an interview here.

The hottest spark to ignite the discontent that had simmered for months was Mr. da Silva's decision in September to approve the planting of genetically modified soybeans.

That was one of half a dozen policy differences that Congressman Fernando Gabeira cited when he announced that he would bolt from President da Silva's governing Workers' Party.

Mr. Gabeira was the Green Party's only representative in Congress for years before switching to the Workers' Party in August 2002. But he said he could no longer stand by as "the nucleus of power" surrounding Mr. da Silva systematically violated his campaign pledges.

"I always defended a Green-Red coalition in Brazil, supposing that the Red component would act like European Social Democrats," Mr. Gabeira said in an interview here. "But I have found that they act more like Eastern European Communist leaders."

He said he meant that they concentrated power in a small elite that "breaks with party policies without talking to its partners" and "leaves environmental devastation behind."

Marcio Santilli, director of the Socio-Environmental Institute here, one of Brazil's leading private environmental policy organizations, said that Mr. da Silva, a former labor leader, and his main advisers tended to "focus on relations between business and labor, with everything else seen as secondary."

"It is an old-fashioned vision," he said, "and they don't seem to realize how much it can damage the credibility of the government."

Mr. da Silva has tried to ingratiate himself with business groups by supporting the paving of highways in the Amazon, encouraging more agriculture there and resurrecting a regional development agency that the previous government had abolished for corruption and inefficiency.

"The Amazon is not untouchable," he said during a visit to the region in June.

Environmental groups say they do not oppose Amazon development. But they want the government to follow the model that the Workers' Party itself installed in Ms. Silva's home state of Acre, which emphasizes forest management and renewable resources, rather than indiscriminate cutting and cattle ranching.

However, to spur a lackluster economy, Mr. da Silva has embarked on a campaign to increase Brazil's food exports, which implies expanding the agricultural frontier. His proclaimed intent is to improve conditions for poor peasants, but environmentalists say that agribusiness is the primary beneficiary.

Environmentalist say they have also been disappointed by the government's reluctance to approve demarcation of Indian reservation borders, which often serve as buffers to predatory development in the Amazon.

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One case in the northern Amazon state of Roraima has been especially criticized, with news media suggesting that the government has stalled in exchange for the political allegiance of the state governor, Francisco Flamarion Portela, who opposes additional reservations.

In addition, in early October Roberto Amaral, the minister of science and technology, announced that the country would begin enriching uranium and intended to become an exporter within a decade, immediately reviving debate about Brazil's nuclear energy program.

Some groups and editorial writers have even urged Ms. Silva, a former rubber tapper, to resign in protest. They say she is being used as window dressing, and has failed to make the government take environmental factors into account in its decision-making.

There is a growing feeling that "if someone with Marina Silva's charisma and history in the Workers' Party isn't capable of convincing the government to have a consistent environmental policy, then no one can," Mr. Santilli said.

Ms. Silva acknowledged in an interview that there was "a dispute between the environment and development within the government." But she said that even with the reverses she had suffered, she had succeeded in getting environmental issues debated publicly.

"Everyone knows that I would never remain as minister just to be some sort of a decorative piece," she said. After a 22-year struggle to reach power, she said, "I'm going to stay and continue fighting for what I believe in."