Venezuela was the first country in the world to establish a National Strategy for the Conservation of Ecological Diversity for the period 2010 to 2020, said the Environment Ministry’s director for biological diversity, Jesús Manzanilla, in an interview on state television.

“Venezuela, with the political process it is consolidating, guarantees conservation and social inclusion, as well as the execution of environmental policies that guarantee the conservation of the ecosystem,” he said.

Manzanilla also mentioned that delegates from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico will participate in the Third Congress on Biodiversity to be held later this month (May 22 to 27) at Venezuela’s Universidad Ezequiel Zamora in the western state of Cojedes.

He highlighted that Venezuela is casting off neoliberal policies that would commercialize nature.

For more information about the National Strategy for the Conservation of Ecological Diversity, click here.

Correo del Orinoco / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 15, 2012