Valéria Amaral
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Municipal environmental administration is one of the basic proposals for preserving biodiversity in the Amazon. The topic was discussed in Brasília last Thursday (11) at the sixth in a series of Virtual Seminars via videoconferencing sponsored by the Ministry of Environment (MMA) in partnership with the World Bank Institute (WBI).

According to the ministry's coordinator of decentralization of Environmental Management, Ronaldo Martins, when municipal environmental administration is "well implemented, and conservation activities are well executed," resources can be generated for the municipalities. He informed that US$ 4.69 million (R$ 10 million) have been earmarked for municipal environmental protection projects.

The funds come from donations made by the world's seven wealthiest countries, together with Russia, pursuant to an agreement signed after the Eco-92 conference to stimulate environmental protection activities in emerging countries. Martins informed that US$ 3.05 million (R$ 6.5 millionj) have been allocated in two years. He said that three muncipalities in the officially delimited Amazon region ("Amazônia Legal") have shown financial expansion: Juína (MT), Itaituba (PA), and Marabá (PA).

According to Martins, the environmental protection projects developed in each municipality are aimed at the identification of potentially polluting activities. "In municipal environmental administration there is the possibility of gauging the level of impact of the polluting enterprise, reduce these impacts to the degree possible, and make sure that procedures are followed in compliance with municipal ordinances," he informed.

Translation: David Silberstein