Peru’s environmental ministry estimates that the country needs about US$25 million a year for the next 10 years to be able to save or conserve initially at least 54 million hectares of forest, which could increase to 60 million. The Peruvian government has agreed to commit US$5 million a year, and is hoping for a US$20 million a year investment from the international community.
"We are not a poor country going to the Poznan meeting begging for aid," environment minister Antonio Brack told the BBC. "We are an important country with a large area of forest that has a value."
The WWF and other international environment groups view the plan as a welcome statement of intent, but cite concerns that the proposal may be too ambitious and does not take into account the needs of Peru’s indigenous peoples. The country’s tropical forests, measuring 70 million hectares, ranks as the fourth largest in the world after those of Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
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