Friday, September 12, 2008

Brazil: complete Amazon map project launched

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday announced a 350-million-real (196.6million U.S. dollar) project for getting better cartographic knowledge of the Amazon.

The president made the announcement at the Fourth International Fair of the Amazon, an exhibition promoting the products and technologies in the region in the Amazon city of Manaos.

The so-called Cartographic Project of the Amazon intends to update the terrestrial, geological and nautical maps of the Amazon region. The final result forecast for 2012 will be a continuous digital cartographic base of the Amazon.

The initiative will increase the knowledge of the Amazon and will offer useful information for regional security and defense, as well as for development projects such as highways, railways, hydroelectric plants, mining and agricultural activities, and settlement of landless peasants.

It will boost the knowledge of the already mapped area of 5.2 million square km and offer insights into the 1.8 million square km of which there is no cartographic information.

The project will also enable the identification of potential mineral reserves, which promised to attract a direct investment of some 650 million dollars.

Heavy investment will be made in the modernization of data and image acquisition and processing system, personnel training and necessary equipment including five hydrographic ships.

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