Amazon Nations to Discuss Rain Forest Development
11/23/97
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Headline: Amazon Nations to Discuss Rain Forest Development
Source: Reuters
Date: 11/23/97
Copyright: Reuters Limited 1997
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Eight South American nations are due to meet in Brazil
next week to discuss ways of promoting sustainable development in the
Amazon rain forest, a Brazilian official said on Friday.
More than 300 delegates from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela were expected to attend the three-day
International Amazonia Conference, which begins in the Brazilian capital on
Monday.
"We are looking for models for economic growth that guarantee the region's
competitiveness and at the same time bring benefits for the Amazonian
people, preserving their cultural and ethnic diversity," said Jose Seixas
Lourenco, Brazil's Amazon Secretary.
The meeting's findings would be presented to the governments of the eight
countries located in the Amazon Basin with a view to formulating a joint
plan for the development of the Amazon in the next century, Lourenco said.
Officials from the Organization of American States, the World Bank and the
Inter-American Development Bank were also due to attend while academics
from each of the eight countries were due to meet in an assembly of their
own, also in Brasilia.
The Amazon, the world's largest remaining tropical forest, is under threat
from all sides, environmentalists say.
Mining companies are eyeing suspected vast deposits of minerals while
agriculture and large-scale infrastructure projects planned by Amazon
countries will open up the heart of the jungle to economic development.
The rain forest is also facing unusual dryness caused by the El Nino
weather phenomenon, which has increased burning in recent months.