Everyone seems to have an eye on the Amazon region these days, from environmentalists and scientists to loggers, ranchers and carbon-credit traders. The Amazon Cooperation Treaty, signed in 1978 by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, was meant to ensure some degree of coordination in development and conservation of the region. But until the creation in Dec. 2002 of the Brazil-based Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (Acto) no agency oversaw it. Acto’s current secretary general is Rosalía Arteaga, an Ecuadorian lawyer, journalist, writer and teacher. Arteaga served as Ecuador’s vice minister of culture and minister of education, culture and sports before becoming the country’s vice president and, briefly, its president after the ouster in 1997 of Abdalá Bucaram. She became Acto secretary general in 2004 and is serving a three-year term. Arteaga was in Iquitos, Peru, last month for a conference sponsored by Peru’s National Environment Council (Conam). She spoke with EcoAméricas correspondent Barbara Fraser about Acto’s work and priorities for the region. [Log in to read more]

Would you like to Subscribe?