While the total deforested area in the Amazon increased 6% between 2003-2004, according to the National Institute of Space Research (Inpe), in the state of Amazonas, in northern Brazil however, it was indeed reduced by 39%.
The information was recalled by the state secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development, Vírgilio Viana, in the opening of the “First Symposium on Environment and Quality of Life,” in Manaus, promoted by the National Research Institute of the Amazon (INPA), and by the National Environment Protection Agency (IBAMA). The event is part of the celebrations of the Environment Week.
“This is a victory of the Programa Zona Franca Verde. Command and control tools alone, such as inspections and punishments, are not enough to impede environmental destruction.
“It is necessary to foster a new development rationale: the forest may not be seen as an obstacle for pastures and annual crops, but as a way to improve one’s life,” said Viana.
The Programa Zona Franca Verde is a set of public policies implemented by the government of Amazonas in the interior of the state, focused on incentives for extractive agricultural activities.
Among them, there is the creation of the State Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Agency of Forests and Sustainable Businesses.
The objective is to reduce bureaucracy and support projects of regulated economic usage of forest resources.
Agência Brasil