With deforestation rising after years of decline, why are Brazilian senators trying to make it easier to destroy the Amazon to grow sugar cane? It was the year 2009, when the Brazilian government has banned the growing of sugar cane in the Amazon. Now the Senate Commission of Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication and Computing has approved a new regulation that reintroduce planting of sugar cane in the Amazon.

According to Greenpeace, this is a clad sign that the powerful agrarian lobby have taken over much of Brazil's government. Last year, this lobby successfully changed the Forest Code - despite massive opposition from the Brazilian public - removing many of the legal barriers to rainforest destruction. They are trying to remove indigenous peoples' hard-won rights. They have also lobbied hard to undermine the government agencies that protect the Amazon. Is it any wonder then that deforestation in the Amazon rose 28% last year, after almost a decade of decline? Brazil has enough land to plant sugar cane, without clearing rain forests. But many landlords acquired forested land at low price when it was protected from deforestation, now they want to make big profits by converting it into plantations. In this way, they okay the sell-out of the most precious forest in the world.