VICTORY
***********************************************
Debt Canceled to Preserve
***********************************************
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Portal
http://www.EnvironmentalSustainability.info/ -- Eco-Portal
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Forests.org
Given will and money, most of the World's remaining rainforests can be
permanently protected. The World must aspire to preserve more of its
ecological heritage than small remnant patches of natural vegetation,
whose species are more akin to museum relicts. Global ecological
sustainability depends upon protecting large swathes of intact and
regenerating natural vegetational communities. Below is some good news
regarding a debt-for-nature-swap
in
several million dollars will assist in the long-term protection of some
27.5 million acres of the World's most biologically diverse rainforests.
This model should be increased in scale exponentially. The entire debt of
all interested developing countries should be forgiven in exchange for
commitments to invest in sustainable development and environmental
protection.
If not now, when? The opportunity to protect the World's natural systems
while equitably meeting basic human needs, and in so doing ensure the
survival of millions of species (including our own), is rapidly slipping
away. The burden of debt repayment is intensifying the pace of ecosystem
collapse, breeding social unrest which leads to conflict, poverty and
greater ecological decline. This cycle must be broken. It will take
visionary leadership and mass mobilization to save the Earth. By no means
is the Earth doomed. The greatest calling in human history is to defend,
right now, the biosphere upon which all life depends. Are you up to the
challenge?
g.b.
P.S. Over the past year I have spent countless hours completing our
newest Internet site - the "Eco-Portal - The Environmental
Sustainability.Info Source" at
http://www.EnvironmentalSustainability.Info/ . As of late, this email
list has not been as active. At long last this new project is completed,
and I will now be turning my attention to reinvigorating this email list,
continuing to write original action alerts and other materials, and
maintaining the new site as well as the Forest Conservation Portal at
http://forests.org/ and the Climate Ark at http://www.climateark.org/ .
Forests.org continues to run on adrenaline and guts, and virtually no
funding. If you can, make a donation at http://forests.org/donate/ . As
things settle down, we will be launching our biennial fund raiser. We
need to raise $20,000 in the short term to keep the boat afloat. Hope you
can help!
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Debt canceled to preserve Peru rainforests
Area spans more than 27.5 million acres
Source: Copyright 2002, CNN
Date: July 16, 2002
By: Gary Strieker
(CNN) -- There's new protection for some of the richest rainforests on
Earth, thanks to a new agreement between Peru and the United States.
The agreement, called a "debt-for-nature swap," was signed in Washington,
D.C., last month by Allan Wagner, Peru's ambassador to the United States,
and John B. Taylor, Treasury Department undersecretary for international
affairs.
The deal commits the Peruvian government to provide local currency funding
for Peruvian conservation groups, giving them the money they need for
critical conservation work in 10 rainforest areas covering more than 27.5
million acres -- an area the size of Virginia or Cuba.
"These areas are really the heart of the western Amazon," said Meg
Symington, director of Latin American programs for the World Wildlife
Fund. "They're the most pristine, the richest in terms of the species they
contain."
Under the agreement, $5.5 million of Peru's debt to the United States is
canceled, saving the Peruvian government about $14 million in future
payments.
"They instead will pay $10 million in local currency into a trust fund in
Peru that will benefit conservation," Symington said.
The U.S. funding is authorized by the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of
1998, which encouraged the reduction of foreign debt in exchange for a
financial commitment to forest conservation.
Major challenge
For the first time in a debt-for-nature swap, leading U.S.-based
conservation organizations joined forces with the U.S. government.
Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife
Fund together committed more than $1 million to the transaction.
"Because the
provide technical expertise regarding how these funds should be used and
... the most important places where they should be spent," Symington said.
Saving Peruvian rainforests is a major challenge for conservationists.
In
species of birds, many of them found nowhere else. Their habitats are
threatened by destructive logging, agricultural clear-cutting, mining and
exploration for oil and gas.
Peruvian conservationists will use their new funding for a wide variety of
conservation work, including establishing and maintaining protected areas
and reserves, conservation training, research, and supporting the
livelihoods of indigenous people in the forests.
"These funds will be incredibly important for the local groups working in
funding. We're talking $500,000 per year ... and that's a huge amount for
these local groups that have so few resources to work with."
###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving forest conservation informational materials for educational,
personal and non-commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission
from the source to reprint this PHOTOCOPY. All efforts are made to
provide accurate, timely pieces, though ultimate responsibility for
verifying all information rests with the reader. For additional forest
conservation news & information please see the Forest Conservation Portal
at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org