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Brazilian state bets on 'green' economy to slow
global warming
Manaus, Brazil, Jun 5, 2007 -- EFE The Brazilian state of Amazonas marked World Environment Day by enacting a law that aims both to curb global warming and foster development of a "green" economy. With the new law, the Amazonas government is making its contribution to the world efforts to stem the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming at the same time it is equipping itself with an instrument to foster sustainable economic development in the region. The law is based on a system of both sanctions - for those who damage the environment - and, above all, incentives to promote the rational and responsible use of natural resources, ensuring that the public participates in their preservation. Among the mechanisms contained in the measure is the creation of the first regional fund for climate change which will permit development of control, conservation, reforestation and sustainable resource management activities. The fund will finance, among other things, a program to reduce poverty at the same time that it encourages ways to stop deforestation. Braga said that the first beneficiaries of the program are 8,500 families who live in areas declared to be "conservation units." The families will receive some 600 reais (roughly $300) per year in exchange for environmental products and services, but the government hopes to include 60,000 families in the plan by 2010, said the governor at a press conference. The fund will be augmented by resources from the private sector, non-governmental organizations and government and international entities, Braga said. He said it will need 600 million reais (around $300 million) to continue to operate. In addition, the fund will help to develop monitoring, conservation and sustainable development activities. In other areas, the new law spurs what is known as carbon trading, a financial mechanism created by virtue of the Kyoto Protocol, which established goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon trading market, in which circulated $30 billion in 2006, functions via the sale of certificates for emission of the gases on stock markets, in funds and via agents. The industrialized countries that have to fulfill commitments to reduce gas emissions can buy credits to compensate for their emissions, in effect purchasing into projects in developing countries linked to reforestation, energy efficiency and the development of alternative energy sources, among other things. According to the state environment secretary, Virgilio Viana, Amazonas "cannot stay on the margin of that (carbon) market, since it is "part of the solution to the world climate problems." Amazonia as a whole contains 16 percent of the planet's fresh water, 157 million hectares (392 million acres) of forests, rivers and lakes and the world's greatest diversity of plant and fish species. The Brazilian state of Amazonas, meanwhile, has 34 areas set aside for environmental conservation totaling 17 million hectares (42 million acres) of preserved forests where 65 Indian tribes live who, according to the state government, have worked with regional programs to halt the loss of forest areas. Over the past four years, that alliance has resulted in the reduction of deforestation by 53 percent and prevented the release of 430 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, according to official sources. The new "green" economic policy of Amazonas has received the blessing of Greenpeace, whose coordinator in Brazil, Paulo Adario, has said he wants it to serve as an inspiration for a similar national policy. EFE ag/bp News Provided By |
