Brasília, June 3, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Brazil demonstrated that its policy of respecting the environment remains in the vanguard of global actions adopted within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, drafted in Japan in 1997 and ratified to date by 122 countries. In a ceremony, yesterday (2), at the National Confederation of Industries (CNI), to commemorate Environment Week, the Minister of Science and Technology, Eduardo Campos, announced the approval of the first two Brazilian projects designed to reduce the emission of gases into the atmosphere.

The International Executive Council, based in Bonn, Germany, authorized the functioning of projects by Nova Gerar, in Rio de Janeiro, and Vega, in Bahia, to utilize sanitary waste landfills that obviate the emission of methane gas. The projects were judged to adhere to the norms of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The Ministry informed that the two projects also serve the government's goal of social inclusion, "the chief objective of Lula's Administration," by contributing to balanced municipal development through the generation of jobs and the improvement of sanitary conditions for people who work in the "garbage dumps."

Campos also stressed the pioneer spirit behind the two projects in envisioning the possibility of international cooperation for the maintenance of climatic equilibrium.

The president of the CNI, Armando Monteiro, congratulated Brazil's entry into the global endeavor to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and said that a large share of industry is also engaged on behalf of environmental preservation, "without detriment to company competitiveness and the country's sustained development."

Reporter: Stenio Ribeiro
Translator: David Silberstein