Brazil Increases Protection for the Amazon Rainforest

Brazil has announced that it is increasing the area of the Amazon Rainforest that is protected. In the next three years it will declare 210,000 sq. kilometers a protected area. This will help slow the destruction of the forest.

"The project is part of the Amazon Protected Areas Program, which has banned development in some regions and created sustainable development zones in others to preserve the Amazon region, which covers 4.1 million square kilometers in Brazil and extends into Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

During three days of high-level talks at the eighth biannual Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity, cabinet ministers face a major test of their commitment to provisions of the 1993 treaty as well as their support for the Global Fund for the Environment.

"In a sense we are at a crossroads," said Marcelo Furtado of the environmental group Greenpeace. "If concrete measures don't emerge from this conference, the convention could lose its credibility.

"If that happens, pressing environmental issues could end up being dealt with at other forums like the World Trade Organization, where economic considerations take greater priority."

Organizers said 93 government ministers were expected to participate in the conference, which began last Monday in Curitiba, 650 kilometers southwest of Rio de Janeiro, and runs until Friday.

The Convention on Biological Diversity arose from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where more than 100 world leaders recognized that the world's environment was in danger and pledged to take steps to protect it. This biannual event is aimed at reviewing progress made toward goals set out at the Earth Summit.

"The (ministers') meeting is strategically placed during the second week. That way the high-level meetings can address the most controversial issues of the past week that have been ironed out by their delegations," said Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva, who is presiding over the conference.

"It's a key political moment when the leaders of the global agenda commit themselves to work toward the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity," Silva said. "

While there is still rampant descruction of the forest for economic gains, at least this is a step in the right direction.

Tags: amazon rainforest, rainforest, environment