Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world, with the most important areas of land in the world.  The Brazilian Amazon is the world’s largest and most diverse rain forests.   The Amazon accounts fully for 40% of the world’s remaining forest cover, and contains an estimated 30% of the world’s genetic stock (Cordiero 1998).  In essence Brazil’s Amazon rain forest contains a large portion of the world’s biodiversity.  This vast forest holds approximately 15%-20% of the world’s existing species.  This great forest is also in the path of some of the fastest development in the world.  In the Amazonian area of Brazil the migration of peasant workers has increased at an alarming rate.  This increase has also brought about many industries that threaten the existence of this important forest.  Continued logging, charcoal production, cattle raising, peasant farming, mining have taken a toll on the Amazon Rain Forest.  Deforestation in this area threatens not only the environment of the country, but also the rest of the world.  In 1995 alone the Amazon suffered the loss of more than 7 million acres roughly the size of Belgium (Laurance 1998).  If this trend of deforestation continues the existence of the Amazon Rain Forest will be in danger.  Somehow there has to be a way to slow this development, or at least find ways to promote sustainable growth where the economy of Brazil can expand to meet the needs of the growing population while at the same time protecting the existence of the world’s most important natural resource.  Can some of the existing industries both promote economic growth and sustainable use of the Amazon Rain Forest?  This question becomes very difficult and intriguing at the same time.  Brazil is faced with a situation of a booming population that needs to expand its economy to meet the growing demands of its population.  At the same time Brazil needs to protect it’s natural resources and remaining rain forest.  The economic benefits are lost if the environment becomes a wasteland.    
Southgate did show that sustainable development within the logging industry is possible, but the situation must change in order for sustainable development to occur.  Emilio Moran has written on how the government could possibly take corrective action to help the problem of deforestation in the Amazon.  Moran writes (1996, 160) that the government eliminate all tax breaks in the rural areas.  These tax breaks do nothing but encourage the wealthy to continue practices of excessive deforestation.  Expand Indian reservations because they have proven that they take care of the forest, and this expansion gives them constitutional rights to the land.  Also cut all subsides to cattle ranching, ranching has proven a serious detriment to the environment, and rather give incentives for developing more land, give incentives to make the land more efficient and more productive.  This would encourage making pastures last more than a few years, which would decrease the need for more land clearing.  Slow the construction roads in rural areas.  This is highly important in the fact that roads are a main factor in deforestation.  The roads give easy access to the forest and make it easier for timber pirates to steal more lumber.  Roads are definitely needed, but it would serve the forest better if they were not designed to give better access to the forest, but rather connect already urbanized areas.  The biggest policy that could change the face of deforestation in the Amazon is the implementation of long-term land rights.  Give responsible logging companies rights to lands that might make them more efficient and cut down on the ability to move form plot to plot.  Giving rights to these lands would give legal power to those people making it easier to protect their land (Moran 1996, 160).  These policies could make a huge impact in slowing down deforestation all over the Amazon.  The government must take action in order to promote better environmental thinking.       

Sources 

Cordierio, Marcelo; Brazil: A Pragmatic Approach, The World & I.  Nov 1998. 

Laurance, William; Fragments of the forest, Natural History.  Jul/Aug 1998. 

Moran, John;  Policies of Deforestation, Columbia Press.  1996. 

Sites 

http://www.dpi.inpe.br/Amazonia/pg13.html 
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/iab/iab3-10.htm 
http://faculty.ssu.edu/~jlcavigl/adoabs.htm