BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil's president is proposing a plan to prohibit sugarcane-ethanol plantations in the Amazon and other ecologically sensitive areas.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc says the proposal will ensure Brazilian ethanol made from sugarcane is environmentally friendly and ease concerns the plantations could one day carpet the rainforest.
The plan unveiled Thursday would limit sugarcane plantations to 18 percent of Brazilian territory. They would also be banned from food-growing areas and the vast Pantanal wetlands bordering Bolivia.
Congress is likely to vote on the plan next year.
Brazil is the world's biggest ethanol exporter, and a huge consumer. The fuel powers most new cars sold in Latin America's largest nation.
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