Amazon Pact (1978)

The Treaty for Amazon Cooperation provides a framework for collaboration on economic development, conservation, and use of natural resources among the countries of Amazonia. Signed on 3 July 1978 by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, the pact was designed to curtail foreign influence by giving member nations the exclusive responsibility for the development of the Amazon region. The member countries could not sustain the isolationist purpose of the pact, however, because their development projects required substantial external financing. In 1989, facing a virtual boycott on foreign lending until environmental standards for Amazonian projects were improved, the pact members created permanent committees on natural resources and the environment. These committees have taken the initiative in developing projects that meet the environmental demands of international financiers. The current collaboration among the member states under the Amazon Pact has laid the groundwork for more ambitious regional projects, including economic integration.

See alsoEconomic Developmentxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Maria Elena Medina, "Treaty for Amazonian Cooperation: General Analysis," in Land, People, and Planning in Contemporary Amazonia, edited by F. Barbira-Scazzocchio (1980), pp. 58-71.

Michael J. Eden, Ecology and Land Management in Amazonia (1990).

Juan De Onís, The Green Cathedral: Sustainable Development of Amazonia (1992).

                                         Michael A. Poll