G7 to meet in Amazon [CNN]

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Forwarded message:

>               G7 TO MEET IN AMAZON TO REVIEW DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
>                                        
>      G7 graphic October 25, 1997
>      Web posted at: 8:03 p.m. EDT (0003 GMT)
>      
>      BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazil and the Group of Seven
>      industrialized nations meet in the Amazonian capital of Manaus next
>      week to agree on the next stage of a program promoting sustainable
>      development in the rain forest.
>      
>      The annual meeting of G7 donors to the so-called Pilot Program
>      (G7-PP), administered by the World Bank, begins formally on Tuesday,
>      with Monday dedicated to presentations by Brazilian government
>      officials of projects in the Amazon.
>      
>      "When we speak of the future, that means completing and
>      consolidating current projects and thinking about Phase Two of the
>      G7-PP," Brazilian Environment Minister Gustavo Krause said.
>      
>      Starting six years ago, the program has given out $181.3 million of
>      a total of $250 million pledged to fund projects such as the
>      demarcation of Indian reserves and protecting fishing communities
>      from large-scale competitors.
>      
>      The rest is budgeted, one of the aims of the three-day meeting will
>      be to identify new sources of money and coax fresh funds out of the
>      participants -- Germany, the United States, the European Union,
>      Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Canada.
>      
>      Germany has financed the bulk of projects, contributing 35 percent
>      of the total and even more as the principal economic power in the
>      European Union.
>      
>      The United States, despite spending pledges made by President
>      Clinton on a visit to Brazil earlier this month, lags in fourth
>      place, behind the EU and Japan.
>      
>      Environmental pressure groups said the most important aspect of the
>      meeting is a proposal to establish zones in the gigantic Amazon
>      river basin. Map of Brazil 
>      
>      They say Pilot Program managers are resigned to the fact Brazil will
>      pursue large-scale infrastructure projects in the rain forest,
>      including paving a road from Manaus to Venezuela and river-widening
>      projects to boost soybean exports.
>      
>      "It seems important that the realities of the Amazon region and of
>      its political weight and significance must be taken into account if
>      effective conservation of at least a good part of the Amazon are to
>      be achieved," the World Bank's Rain Forest Unit said in a memo.
>      
>      The infrastructure projects basically correspond to what the bank
>      calls "development corridors" where the "objective is to increase
>      and geographically concentrate economic activity."
>      
>      Such corridors would be counter-balanced by "conservation corridors"
>      where biodiversity would be protected.
>      
>      In between, in so-called inter-corridor spaces, the Rain Forest Unit
>      suggests policies should make sure economic activity that preserves
>      as much of the forest as possible becomes more attractive than
>      clearing land for agriculture.
>      
>      A concrete task set by the officials meeting in Manaus is to decide
>      when Phase Two of the program will begin.
>      
>      They must also decide what type of transition is needed to blend
>      Phase One projects into a broader, cohesive program that fits into
>      the Brazilian government's plans for the region.
>      
>      Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.