Brazil 'invites deforestation' with overhaul of environmental laws
by Reuters from on (#3H1ZZ)
Sweeping changes to legislation, dubbed the forest code, are a blow for campaigners seeking to protect the Amazon and other rainforest areas
Brazil's supreme court has upheld major changes to laws that protect the Amazon and other biomes, reducing penalties for past illegal deforestation in a blow to environmentalists trying to protect the world's largest rainforest.
Congress agreed to sweeping revisions in the law in 2012, including an amnesty programme for illegal deforestation on "small properties" that occurred before 2008 and reduced restoration requirements in others.
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