Brazil's Amazon plan sounds bold, but doubts abound

With its bold pledge to halve the rate of Amazon deforestation, Brazil wants to boost its international environmental credentials. But it may lack the conviction and resources to reach its goal.

The plan, announced on Monday ahead of the UN climate conference in Poland, is the first time Brazil has adopted a target for deforestation after years of putting the onus on rich nations to help stop global warming.

Environmentalists stress that it is an important step forward from a few years ago when Brazil would barely discuss Amazon deforestation with other countries.

But while the target of halving the current rate of destruction by 2018 looks good on paper, critics say the plan lacks details and contains ambiguous language that gives the government leeway to miss the targets.

As well as strong commitment from a government that has often been reluctant to take on farming and development interests, success appears to depend on continued foreign donations to a fund that so far has only received pledges from Norway.

"It's important that they have an actual goal, but it's going to come down always as to whether there's sustained political will," said Tom Lovejoy, biodiversity chair at the Heinz Centre for science and the environment in Washington.

It is unclear whether President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union leader often more concerned with jobs than trees, will put up the political capital the plan needs as he faces growing fallout from the global financial crisis.

Under the plan, which calls for a reduction in deforestation to an annual 5,850 sq km by 2018, Mr Lula is not obliged to make any deforestation cuts in his two remaining years in office.