Brazils former environment minister, the rainforest defender Marina Silva, has resigned from the ruling Workers party, paving the way for a 2010 presidential bid, which supporters hope will put the environment back on the political agenda of South Americas largest country.
For weeks speculation has been growing that Silva, who resigned from government last May after a dispute over the development of the Amazon region, would defect to the Green party in order to dispute the presidential elections next October.
Silva, 51, said her decision was an attempt to break with the idea of “development based on material growth at any cost, with huge gains for a few and perverse results for the majority” including “the destruction of natural resources”.
She added that “political conditions” had meant that “environmental concerns had not been able to take route at the heart of the government.”
Born in an impoverished community of rubber tappers in the remote Amazon state of Acre, Silva was orphaned at 16 and was illiterate until her early teens. She became renowned for her staunch defence of the Amazon rainforest and its inhabitants, winning a succession of international awards for her work.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
