Brazil this month created two large protected areas in the Amazon, marking President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva’s first major step to combat deforestation in the environmentally crucial region. In a presidential decree issued Nov. 8, the government set aside a total of nearly 5 million acres (2 million has) in Pará, the most heavily deforested state in the Amazon. The tracts—a 3.16-million-acre (1.28-million-ha) area named the Evergreen Reserve, and a 1.82-million-acre swath called the Anfrísio River Reserve—were designated as extractive reserves. Pioneered by the late rubber tapper and activist Chico Mendes in the 1980s, extractive reserves are protected areas in which economic activity must be small-scale, community-based and environmentally benign. In creating the new... [Log in to read more]