Ecobreves – PERU: Reforestation Contest

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, Mar 24 2003 (IPS) - The firms that present the best plans for reforestation in Peru, in a contest organized by the institution Fondebosque, will receive up to 100,000 dollars in financing to make their project a reality. Fondebosque, which is backed by private enterprise and by the Agriculture Ministry, will also promote a line of credit to provide resources to small parcel owners of Amazon forest and for training, says director Roberto Zapata.

The entity is drawing up three reforestation projects to be sold to industrialized countries as part of an environmental service exchange to counteract those countries' emissions of greenhouse gases, and is designing a proposal for a debt swap for productive tree plantations.

One of the aims is to boost Peru's lumber exports from 110 million dollars annually to 3.5 billion dollars over the next decade.