Brazil looking to coordinate South American Amazon policy

by Luiz Castro | July 4, 2008 at 10:20 am | 188 views | add comment

Brazil is looking for ways that would let other countries "help pay for initiatives that benefit the whole of humanity," but ruled out giving them any say in how such money is spent.

Brazil hopes all Amazon nations can join in plans for sustainable development of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness — with the rest of the world footing part of the bill — a top official said Wednesday.

Brazil and Venezuela signed agreement last week to cooperate in their shared portion of the Amazon, and Strategic Planning Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger said it was just the first step toward bringing in other Amazon countries.

"We share the Amazon with our South American neighbors and we understand that a program of sustainable development for the Amazon should eventually become a South American program, not just a Brazilian program," Unger said.

The Amazon rain forest extends into nine South American nations, though about 63 percent is in Brazil.

“The Amazon is not just a set of trees,” he said. “It is a set of 25 million people. If we don’t create real economic opportunities for them, the practical result is to encourage disorganized economic activities that results in the further destruction of the rain forest.”

Unger became a government minister during Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's second term, as head of the newly established Long-term Planning Secretariat, part of the executive office of the president. The appointment raised some controversy as in November 2005, Unger described Lula's government as "the most corrupt of Brazil's history" and called for his impeachment.