Greenpeace Amazon forest claim

Greenpeace has poured scorn on the recent announcement by the Brazilian government that deforestation rates in the Amazon had dropped for the third year running.

Greenpeace claims that one of the government's own agencies is colluding with logging companies so they can gain access to areas of high-value timber that would otherwise be off limits.

As the name suggests, the National Institute of Colonisation and Land Reform (Incra) is responsible for the government's land reform programme. The distribution of land is a huge social problem in Brazil - large tracts of land are owned by just a few wealthy people, making it difficult for impoverished communities to find areas in which to settle. The system of land reform means Incra can allocate areas for these people.

But rather than moving communities onto land that has already been deforested, Greenpeace claims Incra has been allocating tracts of land that are still part of the rainforest. In the state of Para, a frontline in the struggle to protect the forest, land settlements have been set aside in rainforest areas, including one that lies inside the Amazon National Park, a fully protected area.