Brazil moves to protect Amazon, but against what?

Brazil has entered one of its ocassional panics about the Amazon and what it sees as foreign designs on the immense biosystem.

First came an April 23 speech by Gen. Heleno Ribeiro, chief military commander in the region, questioning the establishment of giant indigenous reserves in the Amazon, especially in areas bordering foreign countries, saying such reserves threatened national security.

Then came announcements later in the week that the Brazilian government planned to send to Congress legislation requiring foreigners register for a permit before entering what's known as the legal Amazon, which covers about 60 percent of the country. That would apply to tourists, researchers, journalists, most anyone not Brazilian.

Such rhetoric usually ramps up when the country comes under international criticism for its management of the forest. Such criticism, foreign and domestic, was certainly heavy earlier this year when government data showed deforestation had spiked after three years of steady declines.

In the northern Brazilian state of Roraima, a tense standoff between federal authorities and rice farmers refusing to leave an indigenous reserve has also kept the issue high in the headlines. That standoff remains unresolved, with federal troops hesitating to kick out the rice farmers for fear of violence.

How exactly a foreign power would take over the Amazon, however, is left unexplained, and for a certain wing of Brazilians, it doesn't matter because it's a fact. Yes, foreigners want the precious metals, the fresh water, the undiscovered medicines and all the other riches in the forest, and they're willing to invade to get it. End of story.

Such fears represent a powerful part of Brazilian society, even the top military officer in the region, and have doomed talk of creating an international carbon market that would pay Brazilians to not destroy the forest.

It all goes to show how any international effort to save the forest needs to take account these real sensitivities. Sure, the Amazon is a global treasure, but before anything, it's Brazilian.