Brazil moved to protect two huge areas of the Amazon after the murder of a U.S. nun who fought to protect the rain forest and peasant farmers.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed decrees on Thursday to set aside 78,000 square kilometres for a national park and reserve in Para state, where 73-year-old Dorothy Stang was shot last week.

The president also ordered a six-month moratorium on logging licenses on a huge tract of land in Para, where cattle barons and timber companies have been forcing peasants from their land.

The move came after more than 60 groups – including the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth – sent a letter to the president demanding he crack down after years of government foot-dragging.

They condemned the "violence and impunity associated with the illegal occupation of lands and deforestation."

Environmentalists said they were pleased that land was being preserved, which they had been advocating for two years, but upset that it took Stang's death to get action.

"We can't give in to people committing acts of violence," said Environment Minister Marina Silva, who announced the decrees.

"The government is putting the brakes on in front of the predators."

(From CBC News, February, 18, 2005)

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