Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao on Wednesday called for an “urgent” commitment to sustainable development for the Amazon River and the country.
During an event organized by the National Industry Confederation on the sustainable development of the Amazon, Mourao said regularization of land and prevention of environmental crimes are the two biggest challenges to the protection of the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
Brazil must fight “not only against deforestation and fires in the Amazon, but also against biopiracy and illegal mining,” he said.
“The commitment to sustainability is urgent for Brazil, since it permeates our foreign and domestic trade. Large companies, banks, industries and investment funds are thinking about the concept of sustainability as they seek where to invest. We have to be in tune with that,” said Mourao.
The Brazilian government has recently allocated 410 million reals (74 million U.S. dollars) to the Ministry of Defense for fire prevention in the Amazon, he said, and several tons of illegally cut wood have been seized.
An increase in deforestation rates and the number of fires in the Amazon have recently drawn harsh criticism from the international community.
