§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Venezuela regarding the protection of rainforests. [47751]
§ Mr. Tony Lloyd[holding answer 30 June 1998]: Our Ambassador in Venezuela raised the protection of Venezuela's rainforest with the Venezuelan Vice-Minister of the Interior in March 1998. They discussed the actions being taken by the Venezuelan Government to tackle the forest fires on the border with Brazil, and the impact of development on the fragile rainforest ecosystem and indigenous cultures.
In January 1998, I wrote to the Venezuelan Ambassador in London to ask what action was being taken by the Venezuelan Government to protect areas of rainforest inhabited by the Yanomami people from illegal miners and loggers. The Venezuelan Secretary of State for the Environment replied in June outlining the national strategies being adopted to address the problem.