Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva resigned Tuesday, ending an often controversial six-year term that put her in conflict with developers in the Amazon rain forest.
Silva did not say why she was stepping down, according to her spokeswoman, Jandira de Almeida Gouveia.
But Sergio Leitao, director of public policy for Greenpeace in Brazil, said the minister "is leaving because the pressure on her for taking the measures she took against deforestation has become unbearable."
"Brazil is losing the only voice in the government that spoke out for the environment," Leitao said.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva picked Carlos Minc, the environment secretary for Rio de Janeiro state, to be the new national environmental minister, according to the government's official Agencia Brasil news service. The president's office has yet to comment on Marina Silva's resignation.
Denise Hamu, secretary-general of the Worldwide Fund for Nature in Brazil, said Marina Silva tried unsuccessfully to coordinate environmental defense with health and transportation.
The tipping point for her resignation, Hamu said, was the government's decision to give priority to a multibillion-dollar development plan and put the Ministry of Cities in charge of its Sustainable Amazon project.
"The environmental area was relegated to no priority. She got tired of the thankless struggle," Hamu said. "It's a tremendous loss for Brazil, at home and abroad."
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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