(DIR) Home
        
        
       A Balancing Act for Brazil's Amazonian States - An Economic Memorandum
        
 (HTM) Source
        
       ----------------------------------------------------------------------
        
       **Full report in English**
        
       Brazil's Legal Amazon, here called Amazônia, comprises nine states,
       most of which rank among the poorest in Brazil. It is a vast territory
       of 502 million hectares, larger in area than the European Union (EU),
       and home to 28 million Brazilians. Although Amazônia is mostly known
       for its vast natural forests, over three-quarters of Amazonians live
       in towns and cities. Thirty-six percent of Amazônia's population lives
       in poverty.
        
       Amazônia is home to about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest and also
       to parts of other important biomes like the Cerrado savanna and
       Pantanal wetlands. These natural landscapes comprise large contiguous,
       mainly forested, areas, many of which have remained relatively
       untouched by the past 12,000 years of human expansion into natural
       lands.
        
       Amazônia is one of the world's last frontier regions. But economic
       expansion has moved into those ancient forests, destroying them at a
       rapid rate—especially in Amazônia's southeast, within what is known as
       the "Arc of Deforestation"— and threatening the ways of life of many
       traditional communities. There is an urgent need for an alternative
       development path for Amazônia that promotes inclusion and sustainable
       natural-resource use.
        
       This memorandum presents a multipronged approach, a balancing act that
       seeks to simultaneously provide a pathway to higher incomes for
       Amazonians while also protecting natural forests and traditional ways
       of life by focusing on four strategic actions:
        
         * Increasing the welfare of Amazonian citizens by fostering producti
         * Protecting the forest by strengthening land and forest governance,
         * Fostering sustainable rural livelihoods by unlocking the natural c
         * Marshaling conservation finance linked to measurable reduction in 
        
        
        
        
       ______________________________________________________________________
                                                 Served by Flask-Gopher/2.2.1