On Friday, the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff vetoed selected sections of a controversial new Forest Code, that had recently been introduced to alter regulations relating to the preservation of forests. Rousseff had faced growing pressure from across the world to veto the entire bill after Congress passed a version in late April that critics argued substantially weakened the protection of forests and the penalties for illegal forest clearings. Rousseff vetoed 12 articles in total and introduced 32 modifications to the bill, which if left in, would have undermined reforestation requirements and the protection of riverbanks. However, conservationists were disappointed that the President did not simply reject the entire bill in response to concerns that the new ‘Codigo Florestal’ would increase deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. “Dilma has ignored the 80 percent of Brazilians who opposed the changes to the current Forest Code and demanded a full veto”, said Greenpeace Brazil's Paulo Adario. The bill will now be sent back to Congress, which can, in a month, override Rousseff’s veto with a simple majority. Some analysts point out that this stratergy will give Dilma Rousseff the time she needs to present herself as protector of forests at the upcoming Rio+20 conference in June.