RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday announced a 350-million-real (196.6million U.S. dollar) project for getting better cartographic knowledge of the Amazon.
The president made the announcement at the Fourth International Fair of the Amazon, an exhibition promoting the products and technologies in the region in the Amazon city of Manaos.
The so-called Cartographic Project of the Amazon intends to update the terrestrial, geological and nautical maps of the Amazon region. The final result forecast for 2012 will be a continuous digital cartographic base of the Amazon.
The initiative will increase the knowledge of the Amazon and will offer useful information for regional security and defense, as well as for development projects such as highways, railways, hydroelectric plants, mining and agricultural activities, and settlement of landless peasants.