§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures have been taken to ensure the full participation of local people in the development and implementation of the Tapajos national forest project funded by the Overseas Development Administration in Brazil.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd[holding answer 2 April 1993]: The project is intended to test controlled, selective, sustainable logging within less than 1 per cent. of the total area of the national forest. No people inhabit the project area.
The project management has established a consultative committee which includes representatives from the community, the Rural Workers Union, and from two local non-government organisations active in the region as well as local government officials. It will meet quarterly and will help define methodologies for the implementation of the project as well as evaluating project progress. A Tapajos community working group has also been established, comprising 20 members of which about half are representatives of local people, to enable the local community to participate in the management of the whole national forest.
The Overseas Development Administration has engaged a social development consultant to ensure that the needs of local people are not overlooked in any of our operations in Brazil.