Arial view of the Brazilian forest

IRD/Osès

[RIO DE JANEIRO] About 75 per cent of Brazilians believe that their country's natural resources are at risk of being exploited by richer and more powerful nations, according to a survey whose results were announced earlier this month (6 May).

Seven of every ten people interviewed for the survey said they felt that the Brazilian government does not respect environment issues.

Almost two-thirds said they would be prepared to pay more for a product, if they were convinced that the extra cost would be used for protecting the environment.

The survey was carried out last month by IBOPE, a Brazilian public opinion research agency, and Renctas, a non-governmental organisation that campaigns against wildlife trade.

Nurit Bensusan, public policy coordinator for WWF-Brasil, told SciDev.Net people feel that "the value of Brazil's natural resources, combined with a lack of adequate procedures to protect them, mean that the country's biodiversity is violated daily".

About 2,000 people in 143 of Brazil's 5,561 counties were interviewed for the survey.