http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1112-07.htm
Published on Wednesday,
November 12, 2003 by the lndependent/UK
UK Cuts Rainforest Funding to Meet Iraq
Costs
by Marie Woolf
QUOTE:
"The Amazon contains 20 to 50 per cent of the world's
land-based resources. It is the most important area for
biodiversity in the world. I find it quite incredible
that these vital resources are being diverted to
rebuild Iraq."
John Sauven, Greenpeace
Britain is to slash its aid program aimed at saving the Amazon
rainforest and preserving the culture of its people to meet
the soaring cost of rebuilding Iraq.
Environmentalists fear
the Government's decision to review
its £16m contribution to the international community's efforts
to protect Amazonia could lead to further ecological and cultural
devastation.
Britain is one of the leading backers of the G7 Pilot Program
for the Conservation of the Brazilian Rainforests, which helps
indigenous peoples to manage the forest in a sustainable way and
counter the effects of illegal logging.
The Department for
International Development admitted it was
scaling back cash for its aid projects to the Amazon in a
written parliamentary reply to the Labour MP Barry Gardiner
yesterday.
The number of trees
felled in the Amazon region has risen
by 40 per cent in the past year, with almost 10,000 square
miles of virgin forest - an area 1.2 times the size of Wales
- cut down. But the Government has admitted "the future"
of
schemes that were due to continue for another three years,
"will have to be reviewed".
The move was made after
the Government's decision to pour
£540m into the rebuilding of Iraq, which critics say is
being spent at the expense of aid projects to some of the
world's poorest nations.
Mr Gardiner, MP for
Brent North, called on the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to find cash
to plug the hole left by the removal of funding from the
government aid program"I am extremely concerned. The
ecological and environmental effects of deforestation
are very serious," he said. "I think it is absolutely
vital that DEFRA looks at its responsibility here.
This is of huge significance in an environmental context.
I think that DEFRA should be picking this up."
The aid schemes underpin
Brazil's own efforts to protect
its precious resource, which is vital to prevent further
global warming and protect biodiversity. The G7 program,
which is a vital tool in combating global warming, has a
total budget of $410m (£246m), of which Britain is a major
donor, contributing £16m. It funds programs to stop illegal
logging of virgin timber and to help the indigenous Amazonian
peoples protect their native environment from loggers.
The British money also
pays for local programs to sustain
the Amazon's flood plains and research into how to ensure
"sustainable forestry management" in Brazil.
In addition to the
G7 program, Britain funds a number of
other projects to protect the Amazon, which are also under
threat because of the reallocation of cash to Iraq. They
include backing for the Brazilian Agriculture Research
Institute to help small farmers learn about sustainability
and forestry management.
The Brazilian Amazon
covers 5.2 million sq km (2 million
square miles), more than 60 per cent of the country.
It contains about a third of the world's rainforest, and
some 30 per cent of the world's biodiversity.
Greenpeace warned of
an environmental catastrophe
if countries around the world withdrew aid for the
Amazon. John Sauven, campaign director, said: "This
is a flagship project. Withdrawing funding would be a
serious blow and undermines the Government's commitment
to stop biodiversity loss.
"The Amazon contains
20 to 50 per cent of the world's
land-based resources. It is the most important area for
biodiversity in the world. I find it quite incredible that
these vital resources are being diverted to rebuild Iraq."
The Department for
International Development confirmed
yesterday that funding to Brazil, including its rainforest
programs, was no longer guaranteed because of the cutting
of aid to "middle income countries". It said that support
programs expected to continue until 2005-06 were no longer
assured.
"We do have to
look at the budget for middle-income countries.
We have made a commitment that we are going to spend 90 per
cent of bilateral aid on poorest countries," said a spokeswoman.
The department has
already indicated it wants to focus
on helping the world's poorest countries by channeling
cash from middle-income nations.
© 2003 Independent
Digital (UK) Ltd
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