Judge Brazil approves controversial kapwet

The Brazilian Supreme Court has passed a law amendment that grants amnesty to landowners who have illegally logged trees before 2008.

The amendment of the law, which was adopted by parliament in 2012, eases the obligation for farmers to keep a minimum of 20 percent of their land afforested. Also, landowners who have illegally logged need not pay their fines anymore and they have to replant less trees. A total of 290,000 square kilometers of illegally logged rainforest no longer needs to be repaired.

' This rewards the one who has deforested, the one who has violated the law, 'said Nurit Bensuan of the Instituto Socioambiental, a Brazilian organization dedicated to the preservation of the rainforest.