Actions to prevent illegal deforestation should be one of the mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. This evaluation was made by Brazil’s Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, who participated in the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.
The Conference was held this month in Buenos Aires to debate the 10th anniversary of the Convention and the Protocol, which will take effect on February 16, 2005.
The Kyoto Protocol stipulates that developed countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% in relation to 1990 pollution levels. These targets should be achieved during the first stage of the Protocol commitment, between 2008 and 2012.
This year the Brazilian federal government implanted the National Program to Combat Deforestation, coordinated by the Presidential Civilian Advisory Office and involving 13 ministries.
It also counts on the participation of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), which operates in conjunction with the Federal Highway Police, Federal Police, the Ministry of Agrarian Development, and state governments.
The United Nations Convention on Climate Change was signed during the Eco 92, in Rio de Janeiro, and has already been ratified by 189 countries. Since 1992, nine meetings have been held among signatories of the document.
These meetings are called Conferences of the Parties (COP). The Kyoto Protocol was approved at the 3rd COP. The Protocol sets targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by the developed countries listed in Annex I of the Protocol.
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil