BRASILIA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Actions to combat illegal logging in the Amazon and fight forest fires are the priorities of the Environmental Protection Action Plan established for 2022 by the state-run Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), according to the Friday edition of the Government Gazette.
To combat fires in the area, the institute said it will hire 1,700 firefighters exclusively for the nine states of the Amazon basin, including Rondonia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Para, Amapa, Tocantins, Mato Grosso and Maranhao.
Monthly environmental inspection reports will be expected, along with weekly reports from the Deforestation Combat Group in the Amazon, "to measure the fulfillment of the institutional goals," the article said.
Preserving the Amazon is a requirement of several of Brazil's important trade partners, which is why fighting deforestation is among the government's priorities, it added.
Ibama will invest some 50 million reais (about 9.7 million U.S. dollars) on the priority actions, with the bulk of the funds earmarked for hiring and training firefighters, buying personal protection equipment, and acquiring vehicles and helicopters for the Federal Brigades Program.
At the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in early November 2021 in Glasgow, in the United Kingdom, Brazil committed to eradicating illegal logging by 2028, and cutting its emission of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2030. ■
