Brazil defends land bill at global climate talks

DURBAN Dec 2 (Reuters) - Brazil on Friday defended a proposed law to ease land-use rules which environmentalists say could spur illegal tree-felling and put the Latin American country's emission targets at risk.

The new law, an overhaul of Brazil's 1965 forest code , would reduce the amount of forest that farmers must preserve, relax the conservation of hilltops, and give partial amnesties for massive fines for past deforestation in Latin America's largest country.

The bill was passed by the lower house of Congress, and must be approved by the Senate and President Dilma Rousseff. The document will be presented to the Senate next week.

"The forest code as is presented now is an instrument that is going to help Brazil fulfil its commitments (to reduce deforestation)," Andre Correa do Lago, Brazil's chief climate negotiator, said during global climate talks in Durban.

Forest destruction, which is largely caused by land-clearing for cattle and other farming, is a major source of carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, yet Correa do Lago said he did not see any risk to Brazil's ambitions.

He said provisions to restore parts of the land that had been deforested in the past would help Brazil meet its target.

Brazil plans to reduce emissions by between 36.1 and 38.9 percent from business as usual by 2020.

"I don't see any risks to our targets," Correa do Lago said.

Environmentalists say the bill gives too much weight to the economic interests of the influential farm lobby and will set back recent progress in reducing destruction of the world's largest forest. Greenpeace warned that a forest area equivalent to the size of Sweden could be lost as a result of the law.

"If proposed changes to the forest code are adopted, they seriously jeopardize efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, one of the key pieces of agreement in these U.N. climate talks," Carlos Rittl, the climate change and energy program coordinator at World Wildlife Fund Brazil, said in a note.

Brazil's farmers say more flexibility on environmental regulations will help them compete on more level footing against other big farming nations such as the United States and Argentina. Brazil is among the world's largest exporters of soy, beef, coffee and other key agricultural commodities.

"Maybe it (the legislation) is not perfect, but we are going to work hard to keep our commitments to reduce our deforestation levels," said Karen Suassuna, the director for climate change at Brazil's ministry for environment.

She said the revised code will include a package of measures to ensure that Brazil meets its goal of reducing deforestation of the Amazon by 80 percent from the 1996-2005 average by 2020.

Deforestation of the Amazon fell to its lowest level on record in 2009-10 at 2,509 square miles (6,500 square km), down from a peak of 11,235 square miles (29,100 km) in the mid-1990s. It surged earlier this year, fuelling criticism against the proposed law.

Several groups at the climate talks appealed to Rousseff to veto the bill. The Brazilian president pledged during her campaign last year to maintain Brazil's commitment to protect the Amazon. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)