Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Productive Plan to Save Biodiversity

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RIO DE JANEIRO, May 4 2009 (IPS) - Technical training, access to credit and strengthening the market are the key points of the national plan for socio-biodiversity productive chains, signed in late April by Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The initiative will drive the sustainable extractive economy, uniting efforts of the public sector, businesses and society to ensure that non-timber extraction, that preserves the forests, is viable and prevents deforestation of the Amazon.

“We want to show how advantageous it is to stay on the legal side of things, offering structures so that the products have a market,” Claudia Calorio, the Environment Ministry's secretary for extractive activities and sustainable rural development, told Tierramérica.

The plan incorporates extractive products into government purchases, ensuring a market and minimum prices, for example, with acquisitions of food for school snacks, said Calorio.