By: Eleonora Gosman. 
St. Paul, correspondent.

The Brazilian government decided to legalize the privatization of the Amazon rainforest. Yesterday, President Lula da Silva signed a law that provides "regularize" the land tenure in the forest by individuals in the past, seized them illegally for soy farming and cattle raising activities. This means delivering 67.4 million hectares at the hands of individuals who may have extensions of up to 1,500 hectares. The area involved is the sum of the surfaces of five large provinces of Argentina: Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Entre Rios. The controversial law is a defeat for environmentalists and a victory for rural residents.

The Brazilian Amazon occupied early-ing 5 million km2. It is not known how much is today. But there are some clues: of these, only 100 000 km2 are preserved because Indian reservations, and another 200,000 were earmarked for sustainable exploitation, the thickness is public forest covers 1.9 million km2 and should be a sanctuary.

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In principle, the legislative measure whose text was sent to Parliament by the Executive and approved with changes, some substantial, had an excuse: transparent possession of estates by companies or persons and to avoid, at least in theory, that these large forest estates topple over. According to the Brazilian Forest Code, a landowner-physical or legal "can only be down 20% of the forest for productive purposes.

The new law, Lula adopted late in the night with vetoes, it contains very controversial. According to environmentalists, the goal of ruralistas not just get the law because legalizing the ownership of land belonging to the State. According to NGOs, including Greenpeace and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the second step of the large landowners is down the Forest Code. "It is under discussion in Congress and is the missing step to legitimize the devastation of the forest" revealed Igor Santos, press director of the Landless Movement (in the past close ally of Lula).

The NGOs argue that part of the land that will be delivered to its current owners and the forest lost. But another part remained untouched. It is this portion which will be short-term victim saws and fires. For experts, it was sufficient to use the land already lost the forest and yet still remain unprofitable to produce enough food, not just for Brazil but for the rest of the world. According to Brazilian media this law will be known as the "grillaje decree." It is called so because the title to large tracts Amazon were fabricated by their alleged owners as if they were ancient documents by the simple method of leaving the paper for a time in boxes of crickets. The insect pierces the paper and the yellow stool.

Among the most controversial measure is that it can sell the land to its brand new owners in just three years. This creates an unexpected agricultural real estate. In the Senate, was precisely the agro block which fought for the law of tenure regularization. "This gives certainty and allows the use is without having to pay fines or be displaced from these lands," Clarin said.

At the height of the battle, now lost, the environment minister, Carlos Minc, called the rural producers of "liars." However, Lula distanced itself from its official. And according to it is "proud" to landowners who had just 50 hectares in Rio Grande del Sur are now 2,000 hectares (in the Amazon), own house and car. They are well produced with life because they worked. " He said this week in the municipality of Alta Floresta, northern Mato Grosso. That state, which is part of Amazonia, is among the hardest hit by human predatory actio.