62 Million Acres in The Amazon to Be Protected
4/30/98
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Title: 62 Million Acres in The Amazon to Be Protected
Source: Environmental News Network
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 4/30/98
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil announced his commitment to
establish 62 million acres of new protected forest areas in the Amazon by the
year 2000 at a special ceremony at the Alvorada Palace on Wednesday.
Brazil's conservation efforts are the first part of a new partnership between
the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Bank that aims to help countries
around the world set aside 125 million acres of forest in new protected areas
and bring 500 million acres of production forest under independent
certification by the year 2005.
"The partnership between the World Bank and WWF will play an important role in
enabling countries that are committed to the preservation of their biodiversity
to implement their projects," said Cardoso in a statement.
"The decision by Brazil's President Cardoso to protect 25 million hectares (62
million acres) is truly a remarkable one, both for its size and for its
content," said James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank. "This decision
will help preserve the abundant biodiversity in this remarkable tropical
region. It is a true gift to the Brazilian people and, indeed, to the world."
This is the largest conservation move ever in the Amazon, and when completed
will total an area equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom.
Cardoso launched his commitment by creating four new protected areas, two in
the Brazilian Amazon and two in the Atlantic Forest. Together, the new
protected forest totals 1.5 million acres, which is about seven times more than
the area of parks and reserves created in Brazil since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.
According to the WWF, nearly two thirds of the Earth's original forests have
been lost. In the past three months, the Brazilian Amazon has lost forest
covering an area larger than the state of Maryland to fires.
Home to an estimated one-tenth of the world's plant and animal species, the
Amazon contains some of the planet's most important tropical habitats.
"This is a major first step towards conservation of the Amazon, but many more
steps are needed, and we hope our partners further this work", said Dr. Garo
Batmanian, executive director of WWF Brazil.
In his statement, Cardoso also announced plans for the creation of an
additional 15 new protected areas by the end of this year, totaling nearly 5
million acres.
"President Cardoso's gift to the Earth represents the first tangible, major
accomplishment for the World Bank/WWF alliance and shows what can be achieved
when two effective, influential organizations combine their expertise with a
farsighted government in an effort to save the world's forests," said Claude
Martin, director general of WWF-International.
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