(Brasilia) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has adopted a measure aimed at combating criminal organizations that contribute to Amazon deforestation, calling on his government to demonstrate “agility” in its rapid implementation.
“Never in the history of Brazil have we thought of taking such an extraordinary measure to take care of the Amazon as now,” he said, signing the measure on Monday in Brasilia.
This grants 318 million reais (54.6 million euros) to strengthen security in the Amazon, a territory of 6.3 million km2, 60% of which is in Brazil.
This envelope is part of a plan launched last July with a total budget of 1.2 billion reais.
The Brazilian president warned that if the implementation of the initiative took too long, he would not be able to complete it before the end of his term, at the end of 2026.
“If it takes another year (for its implementation), we will end the mandate without having put the plan into practice,” he warned, calling on the government to show “agility”.
Entitled “Amazon Plan: Security and Sovereignty”, the initiative aims in particular to strengthen equipment, such as boats and helicopters, intended to protect the largest tropical forest on the planet.
The plan also provides for the installation of an international police cooperation center in the city of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, where agents from the intelligence services of countries in which the rainforest is also present will work.
The project is financed by the Amazon Fund, an international initiative aimed at protecting the tropical forest and of which Norway and Germany are the main donors.
Even though deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was halved last year, Environment Minister Marina Silva said the international community still had much to do to protect the rainforest.
“If the world does not do its part by reducing CO2 emissions based on the use of fossil fuels, we will lose the Amazon anyway,” she warned.
President Lula has promised to end illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030.
