Maria Teresa Jorge Padua

Maria Teresa Jorge Padua, in 1992 was "the new president of the environmental protection agency, announced in an interview today an ambitious Amazon protection plan: expanding the national park system to cover 30 percent of Brazil's Amazon. Ms. Padua, who was sworn in on Tuesday, said national parks, forests and reserves currently cover 6 percent of Brazil's Amazon rain forest.

"Often called the "Mother of Brazil's National Parks," Ms. Padua helped create 15 million acres of park land when she managed the environmental agency's parks department in the 1970's and early 1980's. Widely respected for her managerial skills, Ms. Padua has served for the last six years as president of Brazil's largest conservation group, Funatura.

"An experienced fund raiser, the new agency president said today that she had identified $500 million in foreign financing available for environmental projects in Brazil. The largest amounts are $120 million from the World Bank and $30 million from the Inter-American Development Bank."


 * Director, Fundacao O Boticario de Protecao a Natureza
 * Winner of the 1981 J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize with Paulo Nogueira-Neto

Articles

 * Thomas Lovejoy and Maria Teresa Jorge Padua, "Scientific Help Towards Saving Amazonian Species?", Environmental Conservation, Volume 7, Issue 04, December 1980, pp 288-288.