Gordon Brown urged to pay millions to stop oil firms destroying Amazon rainforest
Rainforest campaigners will this week urge the Government to pay out millions of pounds to stop oil reserves under the Amazon being exploited.
By David Harrison, The Telegraph, 05 Oct 2008
Anita Rivas, will urge Gordon Brown's Government to sign up to the plan as a way to demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate change Photo: Tom Stockill
Leaders of indigenous tribes in the Amazon, some of whom have had no contact with the outside world, will call on the UK to back a plan to stop vast areas of the rainforest being destroyed by oil companies.
Anita Rivas, the mayor of Ecuador's Orellana province, will urge Gordon Brown's Government to sign up to the plan as a way to demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate change.
She will launch a campaign in London to persuade western countries to support the proposals, put forward by the Ecuadorian government, by donating £350 million a year for 10 years in return for guarantees that the rainforest will be preserved.
Ms Rivas will meet Gordon Brown's environmental advisers, MPs, senior officials from the Department for International Development and Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, to seek support for the proposal which has received initial backing from Germany and Spain.
"Britain and other western countries are committed to tackling climate change and they agree that preserving the rainforest is one of the most important weapons in that struggle," she said.
"This is a chance for them to do something about it, to keep the oil underground, protect indigenous communities and save an area with the world's greatest biodiversity.
"£350m a year is not much if all the rich countries contribute - it is less than the Americans spend in a day in Iraq and will make a big contribution to tackling climate change.
"We want Britian to play its part and help ensure that the agreement is legally watertight and will save the forest in perpetuity."
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