The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) has launched a four-year project to strengthen the capacity of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela to monitor and generate information about the deforestation process in the Amazon.
18 May 2012: The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) has formally launched a four-year project to strengthen the capacity of its eight Member States to monitor and generate information about deforestation in the Amazon.
The project was inaugurated following the first meeting of the Steering Committee for the “Monitoring Deforestation, Land Use and Land Use Change in the Pan-Amazonian Forest” Project, held 16-17 May 2012, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which reviewed the facilities and adopted technical guidelines for future project activities.
The project’s Observation Room was formally inaugurated 18 May 2012 at the Forestry School of the University of San Simon. The Steering Committee and dignitaries are expected to visit project components such as its video conferencing facility and meet with the project’s technical and coordination teams.
The project currently receives technical support from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the Environment Ministries of the ACTO member countries, and funding from the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), Netherlands Development Cooperation (DGIS) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). ACTO’s member countries are Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. [ACTO Press Release]