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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.
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