“Integrated environmental policy and sustainable use of natural resources” will be the central themes of the second National Conference on the Environment, in which government and civil society delegates will participate in Brasilia, Dec. 10-13. “We defend the intensive and critical participation of civil society” to ensure compliance with the measures approved in the first conference, said Temistocles Marcelo Neto, secretary of the Brazilian Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Movements for the Environment and Development.

But some groups will not take part in this event organized by the Environment Ministry. They are protesting that the government failed to heed the recommendations made in 2003, and released genetically modified products without prior environmental assessment, according to Neto.

Pedro Ivo Batista, general coordinator of the conference, denied that the government had failed to comply, and advocated for the conference to be held every three years, and expanding the preparatory debates.