Brazil - World Bank Pimping Even More Deforestation-Heavy "Development"

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The World Bank is proposing to fund a cattle project in the Brazilian Amazon which environmentalists say will destroy more rainforest. The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group's private-sector investment arm, has pledged to give $US110 million ($145 million) to a cattle-ranching project run by a company called Bertin.

Conservation groups say the IFC investment, with another $US185.5 million from other sources, will mean further destruction of parts of the forest already so ravaged by cattle ranchers and soya farmers that it has become known as the Arc of Deforestation.

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Deforestation of the world's biggest rainforest continues at the rate of 23,300 square kilometers a year. Already, more than 13 per cent of the forest has disappeared. Much of that deforestation has come at the hands of cattle ranchers and soya farmers. Brazil recently surpassed the United States as the world's biggest soya producer and it is also the biggest beef exporter.

Brazilian environmentalists said they would make a formal protest this week against the Bertin project and what they said was the "malfeasant" way the IFC approved the deal. Greens accused the bank of deliberately giving the project a low environmental rating to prevent scrutiny."

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/Environment/Amazon-cattle-plan-draws-fire-from-environmentalists/2004/12/14/1102787085198.html?oneclick=true