Hannah Menchu - Brazil's president line-vetoes new forest code

The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has used her veto power to save more forest area and require farmers to strengthen reforestation along riverbanks.  Her actions are replacing the Forest Law originally passed in 1965.  The original law had been toughened in the 1990s, but is now even better.  The old law was very different for each state in the Amazon, gave no incentives for compliance, and was poorly enforced.  The new law allows landowners to sign an agreement specifying specific reforestation and requires them to bring their property to compliance of new regulations.  The amount of wooded area required will depend on the size of property and will be easier to enforce the law.   They are working to “maintain the balance between social and environmental needs in the countryside.”

http://news.yahoo.com/brazils-president-line-vetoes-forest-code-123912659--finance.html