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Rainforest protection scheme announced.Rainforest protection scheme announced.Sunday 25 August 2002Plans to introduce the world’s largest rainforest national park have been unveiled in Brazil, in a bid to stem excessive deforestation. The Amazonian region of Amapa will be home to the Tumucumaque National Park, which will cover almost 10,000,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Denmark. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most exploited hardwood regions on the planet, with a sadly thriving illegal timber trade. Along with timber, wildlife species are also largely exploited throughout the region. A widespread Greenpeace campaign to halt illegal logging highlighted both the scale of the market, and the relative lack of legislative protection in place to govern trade. Flaws in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) were also made evident through the Greenpeace campaign, which saw a High Court judgement go in favour of timber importers. Tumucumaque is relatively unscathed by illegal logging, and remains one of the world’s last unexplored wildernesses. The national park will be funded by NGO groups from around the world, and is said to be the first of a series of protection schemes. Brazil’s President Fernando Henrique Cardoso will introduce the schemes at this week’s World Summit. |