In one of the most controversial environmental-policy votes here in years, the lower house of the Brazilian Congress has approved a partial amnesty on illegal land-clearing throughout the country, including in the Amazon and the Cerrado, Brazil’s vast tropical savanna. The Brazilian Forest Code revisions, passed May 24 by the Chamber of Deputies in a 410 to 63 vote, still face scrutiny in the Senate and, if approved there, must be signed by President Dilma Rousseff to become law. But environmental advocates charge the revisions as they stand now would threaten woodland protections and speed the destruction of the Amazon, whose deforestation rate has begun rising after years of decline. They say that by allowing many of those who have cut illegally to... [Log in to read more]