The State of Amazonas - Brazil

1. General Facts Capital City: Manaus (pop. 1,738,641) Area: 1,570,745.7 km (606,468.3 sq mi) Its the largest state within Brazil Population: 3.393.369 Municipalities: 62 GDP (2007): R$42,023,086.00

2. Environmental Facts
The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests It comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world More than 1/3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest The largest biodiversity of the planet is present across the State of Amazonas 98% of the forest layer in the State of Amazonas is preserved

3. Economical facts
The Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM) is a regional development model of the Brazilian Amazonia and one of the most successful regional development models in Brazil It comprises three economic poles: trade, industry and agriculture, and cattle raising The industrial pole is the base of ZFM model There are more than 600 factories in Manaus More than 500 thousand direct and indirect jobs in the industry More than 50 thousand direct and indirect jobs in the commerce Sales of US$ 25.7 billion were attained by the industry in 2007

4. How is it possible to protect the environment while developing the economy?

The model of the Manaus Free Trade Zone was created by the Brazilian Government in the late 60s It resulted in a rare combination of economic development with environmental conservation The State of Amazonas had a growth of 502.4% in the manufacturing industry between 1985 and 2002 The State has only 2% of deforestation The deforestation had a decrease of 21% between 2002 and 2003 More than 40% of the country's largest state is protected by indigenous reserves and conservation areas of various categories In the last years the Government of Amazonas has increased by almost 100% the state protected areas, with the creation of 7.6 million hectares of new parks and reserves

In order to combine nature conservation with economic development and improvement of the populations quality of life the Program Zona Franca Verde (Green Free Zone) was created in 2003 When buying a TV or a DVD made in Manaus, for instance, part of the taxes collected will be invested in the Zona Franca Verde Program It will enable an expansion in our investments in nature conservation and improve the quality of life of our extractive and native people We are convinced that the success of this model depends on business, scientific, technological and ethical partnerships. Therefore, we are open to partnerships that allow us to consolidate our long and successful construction process of sustainable development one of the most precious regions in our planet