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Em português

Pilot Program to Conserve
the Brazilian Rain Forest

The Pilot Program has several specific objectives. It aims to help:

• Demonstrate that sustainable economic development and conservation of the environment can be pursued at the same time in tropical rain forests.
• Preserve the biodiversity of the rain forests.
• Reduce the rain forests’ contribution to the world’s emission of greenhouse gases.
• Set an example of international cooperation between industrial and developing countries on global environmental problems.

While these objectives guide the program as a whole, it still is very much a pilot program, meant to try out, experiment, and learn about new ways to protect the forests and to make sustainable use of them. The program’s success will be judged by how effectively the lessons are learned. Therefore, the program does not claim to be solving the problem of deforestation – and the accompanying loss of biodiversity and release of greenhouse gases – nor to be getting truly sustainable development under way on a large scale. The Amazon and Atlantic rain forests are vast, and many cultural, social, economic, and political realities will need to be addressed on the way to sustainable development.

One lesson already learned is that projects need to be both economically and politically sustainable as well as ecologically sustainable. Projects that aim to change the way people use land and natural resources must gain the support of both policymakers and the people affected. Sustainable development efforts should provide benefits for all sides – for current stakeholders, for future generations, and for the environment. Therefore, sustainable development cannot be imposed; it must be discovered. To attract interest, Brazilian policies – legislation, credit incentives, sector investment programs – must be consistent and in harmony with conservation and sustainable development. Incentives for unsustainable land use must be removed, and incentives for desirable use may need to be provided.

However, land use must be restricted in areas that cannot support development of any kind. This requires zoning regulations, the creation and effective protection of reserves, and the enforcement of restrictions. Again, restrictions cannot simply be imposed. They require political support at all levels of government, especially at the local level.