Bianca Paiva
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - In an interview with National Radio of the Amazon, the minister of Environment, Marina Silva, said that indigenous communities are among the government's most important partners in combatting deforestation in the Amazon. According to the minister, the Indian populations work to protect the forest and biodiversity.

Silva informed that the ministry has been promoting environmental management and intends to create a system of conservation units in Indigenous territories. "In Indian areas, we have established what we refer to as environmental management. We even have a program that transfers resources for this kind of management in Indian areas," she explained.

The minister also commented that around 150 internet terminals have been set up in various Amazon communities. "We just formed a partnership with the Ministry of Communications to install internet terminals that will give the communities more agility in the handling of information, whether to disseminate their culture or to expose the problems they are facing," she affirmed.

In the interview, the minister also spoke about the sustainable development plan projected for the BR-163 highway, which traverses the Amazon region. She said that national forests will be established along the highway, as well as settlements for extractive activities, extractive reserves, and sustainable development projects (PDSs), which are new settlement models based on family farming, extractive activities for subsistence, and low environmental impact.

According to the minister, the creation of a sustainable forest district along the BR-163 will generate around 100 thousand jobs and US$ 849.62 million (R$ 1.8 billion) in tax revenues, "which municipal governments can use to benefit the population."

Translation: David Silberstein