The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies has approved contentious new legislation that eases rules on how much land farmers must preserve as forest. Environmentalists are up in arms, and say the new forest legislation will be a disaster, and lead to further destruction of the Amazon.

However, Brazil’s powerful farmers’ lobby argues that the changes will lead to more sustainable food production in the country.

The new legislation allows farmers to cultivate land closer to hilltops and riverbanks – which are especially vulnerable to erosion if trees are chopped down.

The legislation also allows amnesty from fines for illegally clearing trees before July 2008.

Larger landholders would still have to replant most of the cleared areas or preserve the same amount of land elsewhere.

President Dilma Rousseff will now have to sign the bill, but she does still have the power to remove some clauses, but it’s unclear whether she would.

The Chamber of Deputies today voted 247 – 184 in favour of the new forest code, and it marked the end of a year of intense political debate.

The vote has been deemed somewhat of a failure for Rousseff, and critics say, by signing it, she would effectively be negating on some of the promises she made during her 2010 presidential campaign.

Deputy Paulo Piau, who drew up the Chamber’s version of the bill, argued that rural producers would now have:

More stability and political support. Production and the environment will only benefit from that. With a confused law there is no benefit.

Brazil’s farmers have wanted changes for a long time, saying that uncertainty over the current legislation has undermined investment in the agriculture sector, which accounts for more than five per cent of Brazil’s GDP.

Severe environmental restrictions have also forced many smaller farmers off their land, they say.

The new bill means that farmers will have to sign up for a reforestation program that will use satellites to track compliance. Producers that fail to adhere to the law could have their rural finance cut.

Thanks to better law enforcement and authorities using satellite images to track clearance, Amazon deforestation has slowed in recent years.

Advocates of the new bill say the new legislation will result in a net gain of millions of hectares of forest coverage in time to come.

As Greenpeace notes, the bill’s approval comes at a tricky time for Brazil:

It is unbelievable that the forest code is being eroded weeks before Brazil hosts the Rio summit [on sustainable development].

It urged that President Rousseff use her power to make changes to the bill.

[Sources: BBC, Reuters]