Britain, a leading backer of the g-7 Pilot Programme for the Conservation of the Brazilian Rainforests, will review its 16 million (us $27.37 million) contribution to this international effort which helps Brazil's indigenous people manage the forest in a sustainable way and counter the impact of illegal logging. Such aid -- which also pays for local programmes to sustain the Amazon's flood plains, and forest management research -- is to be slashed to meet the cost of 're-building' Iraq.
In a November 12, 2003 written parliamentary reply to Barry Gardiner, a labour mp, the Department for International Development admitted it was scaling back cash for its aid projects to the Amazon. This move comes in the wake of the uk govt's decision to plough 540 million (us $924 million) into the so-called reconstruction effort. Critics say this amount is being spent at the expense of aid projects in Third World countries.
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