Day 280 - 17 Jul 96 - Page 38


     
     1        certain credit lines can apply and so on.  It describes a
     2        policy region and not an ecological or bioregion.  The
     3        River Araguaia (and its own tributaries) as one of the
     4        major tributaries of the Amazon, certainly constitutes part
     5        of the Amazonian forests.
     6
     7        7.  I have now been informed that Senor Morganti has made a
     8        further statement to the effect that he has visited ranches
     9        supplying McDonald's from the above areas and some "around
    10        Cuiaba" and that they were "long established".
    11
    12        8.  Many of these ranches were subdivided into new ranches
    13        as speculative ventures.  While the Cuiabas area has had a
    14        ranching economy for more than a hundred years, the earlier
    15        farms tended to be on native grasslands -- but the real
    16        explosion in ranching during the last decades resulted from
    17        deforestation which dramatically advanced the ranches
    18        frontier.  The same also applies to the aforementioned
    19        Goias areas.  The recently established farms are virtually
    20        entirely in areas converted from forest, and I have no
    21        doubts that such farms would have been the dominant
    22        suppliers throughout the last twenty years of the beef
    23        cattle for the nearby abattoirs, such as Goia Carne.  Most
    24        of the slaughter animals were derived from the newly
    25        created pastures, in contrast with Senor Morganti's views.
    26
    27        9.  While there are certainly are some long established
    28        ranches in the Goias region, the fattening farms supplying
    29        Goias Carne would have certainly relied on fattening up
    30        steers which had been derived from the Belem-Brazilia
    31        corridor.  As I indicated, these fattening animals are
    32        derived in large part from rainforest areas.
    33
    34        10.  I am certain that a substantial proportion of cattle
    35        supplied to Cuiaba meat plants (1979-1982) and to Goias
    36        Carne for the least 20 years (up till now) could have been
    37        from cattle from rainforest areas.
    38
    39        11.  In addition, established farms have been important
    40        elements of the deforestation process.  A. The initial
    41        farms were often extremely large and could easily be
    42        subdivided and this process was very widespread.  b.  By
    43        Brazilian law one is only permitted to clear 50 per cent of
    44        a holding, but by selling the uncleared part, that portion
    45        can be 50 percent cleared and thus through a process of
    46        sub-division large amounts of clearing can occur.
    47        c. Established farms were often the platform for subsequent
    48        expansion into forest and the development of adjacent
    49        ranches, often providing critical infrastructure which as
    50        airstrips, roads, and loading corrals - while other ranches
    51        were in the process of developing these costly
    52        infrastructural improvements.  Aerial photos clearly show
    53        this process of a development nucleus growing out from an
    54        established centre.
    55
    56        1.  It may be valuable to point out that the Belem-Brazilia
    57        as well as the Cuiaba connector roads were initially
    58        designed specifically as part of the beef shed for Brasilia
    59        and the points to the south.  Indeed, they were meant to
    60        provide not only meat on the hoof but also the young steers

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