- "The number of trees felled in the Amazon region
has risen by 40 per cent in the past year, with almost 10,000 square miles
of virgin forest... cut down."
-
-
- Britain is to slash its aid programme aimed at saving
the Amazon rainforest and preserving the culture of its people to meet
the soaring cost of rebuilding Iraq.
-
- Environmentalists fear the Government's decision to review
its £16m contribution to the international community's efforts to
protect Amazonia could lead to further ecological and cultural devastation.
-
- Britain is one of the leading backers of the G7 Pilot
Programme for the Conservation of the Brazilian Rainforests, which helps
indigenous peoples to manage the forest in a sustainable way and counter
the effects of illegal logging.
-
- The Department for International Development admitted
it was scaling back cash for its aid projects to the Amazon in a written
parliamentary reply to the Labour MP Barry Gardiner yesterday.
-
- The number of trees felled in the Amazon region has risen
by 40 per cent in the past year, with almost 10,000 square miles of virgin
forest - an area 1.2 times the size of Wales - cut down. But the Government
has admitted "the future" of schemes that were due to continue
for another three years, "will have to be reviewed".
-
- The move was made after the Government's decision to
pour £540m into the rebuilding of Iraq, which critics say is being
spent at the expense of aid projects to some of the world's poorest nations.
-
- Mr Gardiner, MP for Brent North, called on the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to find cash to plug the
hole left by the removal of funding from the government aid programme.
"I am extremely concerned. The ecological and environmental effects
of deforestation are very serious," he said. "I think it is absolutely
vital that Defra looks at its responsibility here. This is of huge significance
in an environmental context. I think that Defra should be picking this
up."
-
- The aid schemes underpin Brazil's own efforts to protect
its precious resource, which is vital to prevent further global warming
and protect biodiversity. The G7 programme, which is a vital tool in combating
global warming, has a total budget of $410m (£246m), of which Britain
is a major donor, contributing £16m. It funds programmes to stop
illegal logging of virgin timber and to help the indigenous Amazonian peoples
protect their native environment from loggers.
-
- The British money also pays for local programmes to sustain
the Amazon's flood plains and research into how to ensure "sustainable
forestry management" in Brazil.
-
- In addition to the G7 programme, Britain funds a number
of other projects to protect the Amazon, which are also under threat because
of the reallocation of cash to Iraq. They include backing for the Brazilian
Agriculture Research Institute to help small farmers learn about sustainability
and forestry management.
-
- The Brazilian Amazon covers 5.2 million skm (2 million
square miles), more than 60 per cent of the country. It contains about
a third of the world's rainforest, and some 30 per cent of the world's
biodiversity.
-
- Greenpeace warned of an environmental catastrophe if
countries around the world withdrew aid for the Amazon. John Sauven, campaign
director, said: "This is a flagship project. Withdrawing funding would
be a serious blow and undermines the Government's commitment to stop biodiversity
loss.
-
- "The Amazon contains 20 to 50 per cent of the world's
land-based resources. It is the most important area for biodiversity in
the world. I find it quite incredible that these vital resources are being
diverted to rebuild Iraq."
-
- The Department for International Development confirmed
yesterday that funding to Brazil, including its rainforest programmes,
was no longer guaranteed because of the cutting of aid to "middle
income countries". It said that support programmes expected to continue
until 2005-06 were no longer assured.
-
- "We do have to look at the budget for middle-income
countries. We have made a commitment that we are going to spend 90 per
cent of bilateral aid on poorest countries," said a spokeswoman.
-
- The department has already indicated it wants to focus
on helping the world's poorest countries by channelling cash from middle-income
nations.
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- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=462904
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