The developments took place during a meeting between Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Amazon fire (Photo: IANS)
The US and Brazil agreed to promote private-sector development in the Amazon and has also pledged a $100 million biodiversity conservation fund for the world’s largest rainforest which has been ravaged by massive wildfires.
The developments took place during a meeting between Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the BBC reported.
Araujo said that opening the rainforest to economic development was the only way to protect it while addressing the media.
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“We want to be together in the endeavour to create development for the Amazon region which we are convinced is the only way to protect the forest”.
“So we need new initiatives, new product initiatives, that create jobs, that create revenue for people in the Amazon and that’s where our partnership with the US will be very important for us,” he said.
Last month, President and representatives from seven countries in South America’s Amazon region met in Colombia to discuss a joint strategy for preserving the world’s largest rainforest, which has been under threat from a record number of wildfires.
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname signed a pact, setting up a disaster response network and satellite monitoring.
More than 80,000 fires have broken out in the Amazon rainforest this year.
Last month, the US government had said that it did not approve the offer of $20 million in aid to Brazil made by the G7 member nations to fight the devastating wildfires in the Amazon rainforest.
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