Brazil Broadens Rain Forest Protection
Our colleague David Braun at Nat Geo News Watch reports on some promising news for the Brazilian rain forest:
Four new environmental conservation units and the expansion of a national park within the Atlantic Rain Forest biome in the state of Bahia have been announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.
“The 65,070 hectares [161,000 acres] of new protected areas is essential to preserving biological diversity and protecting endangered species,” says a news release issued by the President’s Office.
The new national parks of Alto Cariri, Boa Nova and Serra das Lontras, and Wildlife Refuge of Boa Nova, and the expanded Pau Brasil National Park introduced on June 10 are expected to have high potential for ecotourism and bird watching, the statement added.
This is part of a larger plan by the Brazilian government to reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent by 2020; by that time the President’s Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM) estimates that such actions will result in a 21 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Click here to read the rest of the story, and read more about Brazil’s conservation efforts in “A Rainforest in Rio’s Backyard” from the March 2004 issue of National Geographic.
Photo: My Shot user Annie Greevenbosch
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