Mylena Fiori
Reporter - Agencia Brasil

Curitiba – The eight Member States of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) will suggest to their governments the creation of a workgroup, in 2006, to define a socio-environmental agenda for the region. According to a joint ministerial note signed this Tuesday (28), the group would be integrated by representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Relations and Environment of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela, and Brazil.

The decision was made during the first ACTO ministerial meeting, which occurred simultaneously with the 8th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-8). The Ministers of Environment of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Surinam, and Brazil participated in the meeting. In the opinion of the Minister of Environment of Brazil, Marina Silva, the fundamental issue here is that it is a joint effort of Amazon countries that want to deal in an integrated way with the different matters involved.

The document signed by the Amazon countries reaffirm their priority for a sustainable development in the region, and points out the importance of the elaboration of a socio-environmental agenda.

ACTO Secretary General, Rosalia Ortega, recalled that the Amazon holds the richest biodiversity in the planet, and that attention to local population is equally important.

According to Ortega, the first ministerial meeting will include subjects such as the preservation of traditional knowledge, and the possibility of income distribution based on biodiversity use. The Ministers also discussed the transfrontier integrated management of water resources. "Water does not recognize frontiers and sometimes it goes through contamination problems. Equally, mosquitoes do not see these frontiers, therefore health subjects also have to be treated jointly," said Ortega.

Marina Silva emphasized that the regional integration process involves exchange of experiences, and revealed that Brazil is willing to share with other Amazon countries its satellite information system, largely used to combat deforestation.

ACTO was created in 2003 with the objective of promoting joint measures to develop the Amazon Basin. At the time, the eight countries that integrated the Organization committed to preserving the environment and to rationally using Amazon’s natural resources. They also committed to cooperate with research and the coordination of health services within their territories.

Translation: Andréa Alves