The Brazilian government has taken an additional step in a campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest from further deforestation. It has proposed new legislation which would ban the planting of sugar cane, which is mostly used to produce ethanol for fuel, in more than 90 percent of Brazil's territory.

Brazil is the world's largest producer and second largest exporter of ethanol. Brazilian cars run on a mixture of gasoline and ethanol. Since 2007, the mandatory limit of ethanol is 25 percent. In August 2009, 94 percent of new cars sold in Brazil were flex-fuel vehicles.

In proposing the measure, Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said: "We can now say that our ethanol is 100 percent green."

The proposal, which must be passed by parliament, is the latest effort to protect the Amazon from further encroachment. In July, Brazilian soy crushers extended a ban on purchasing soybeans grown in newly deforested parts of the Amazon rainforest. Environment Minister Minc then said that soy was no longer a relevant actor in the destruction of the Amazon. However, he said the rate of deforestation was still "unacceptable".

Amazon rainforest
Photo by leoffreitas (flickr)