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Brazil's biggest farm state looks for to damage environmental protections

A law gone by legislators in Brazil's largest farm state Mato Grosso that changes the category of threatened biomes inside state borders will likely compromise environmental protections there, according to climate activists.

Under the new law, areas presently located in the Amazon biome might be transformed into Cerrado areas based on the height of trees. That means that Mato Grosso residential or commercial properties resting on the Amazon biome, which need to keep 80% of native plants based on Brazil's Forestry Code, might be converted into Cerrado locations, which need to maintain a much lower 35%.

The procedure, approved in the very first days of January, is the most current ecological blowback in Mato Grosso-- which produces almost as much soybeans as Argentina and nearly a quarter of Brazilian fresh beef exports.

Suely Araujo, public law organizer at the Climate Observatory, called the law unconstitutional in a Monday interview, because it conflicts with federal statutes. She stated it might be challenged in the courts.

The brand-new legislation might cause a boost in logging approximated at 5.2 million hectares ... a location the size of Costa Rica, IPAM, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, stated in a declaration.

The workplace of governor Mauro Mendes, which has yet to sign the costs into law, stated it had proposed something completely different from the text authorized by the state legislature. It declined to discuss a prospective veto, saying the bill is being analyzed by executive branch legal representatives.

Pressure from farm groups to open more locations for large scale farming projects is rising.

As a response, Mato Grosso recently passed a law removing tax breaks for grain traders implementing the soy moratorium, a. voluntary contract where exporters ban farmers who cultivated. soy in a deforested area after 2008.

Next month, the Supreme Court will rule on whether that law. is constitutional.

(source: Reuters)