Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT ON AMAZON FOREST, CLIMATE CHANGE OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS TODAY

“The Amazon Forest & Climate Change” exhibit is part of “Amazônia Brasil”, a major Brazilian initiative comprising numerous events in New York City from April to August 2008.  The initiative aims at raising awareness about the Amazon Forest, its vital role and its fragile and endangered condition.  The Amazon Forest & Climate Change exhibition will open in the North-East Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby on Thursday, 10 July, at 6 p.m., and will remain on display until 6 August.

The exhibit will be formally opened at the United Nations by the Executive Director of Amazônia Brasil, Anna Claudia Agazzi.  Statements at the opening ceremony will also be made by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka; the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti; the General Coordinator of Amazônia Brasil, Eugenio Scannavino Netto; and the Coordinator of the Health and Happiness Project, Caetano Scannavino Filho.

The Amazon Forest & Climate Change exhibit showcases small-scale models, animation and panels that help viewers understand the role that the Amazon forest plays in the global carbon and humidity cycle, as well as the global warming impacts caused by the region’s ecological imbalance.

Organized by the Health and Happiness Project (www.saudeealegria.org.br) and the Amazonian Working Group (www.gta.org.br), the exhibition was provided with scientific support by the National Institute for Research of the Amazon (INPA), Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) and Antônio Donato.

The Amazônia Brasil initiative is endorsed by the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations and is sponsored by Petrobras, an integrated energy company that has joined the United Nations Global Compact.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Jan Arnesen at tel.:  +1 212 963 8531, e-mail: arnesen@un.org; or Liza Wichmann at tel.: +1 212 963 0089, e-mail: wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record