The charcoal of Carajas: a threat to the forests of Brazil's eastern Amazon region

Abstract

Brazil's Grande Carajas Program threatens to consume large areas of tropical forest in the eastern Amazon region as raw material for charcoal to be used in smelting pig-iron. Special fiscal incentives have been granted to the smelters, the first of which began operation in January 1988. Plans for sustainable production of charcoal, either from management of native forests or from plantations, are unlikely to be implemented in practice. The term "forest management' is being applied to clearing or near-clearcutting systems that are both environmentally damaging and unlikely to prove sustainable. The pig-iron scheme is made possible by the Carajas mine and railway that were financed by the World Bank. The events at Carajas suggest ways that environmental safeguards could be strengthened both by Brazilian government agencies and by the World Bank. -Author