The Amazon Fund receives R$ 3.3 billion in donations
The amount was announced by the president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante.
In the process of recovery, the Amazon Fund intends to finance projects for the protection of indigenous peoples, control of deforestation, combat against illegal mining, and promotion of territorial management of the region, said the president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, after the reinstatement of the Amazon Fund Steering Committee (Cofa), held at the bank’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The committee has been inactive since 2018.
According to Mercadante, the fund has already received R$ 3.3 billion in donations, such as R$ 1 billion from Norway and R$ 200 million from Germany. In total, the fund, managed by BNDES, has accumulated R$ 5.4 billion, with R$ 1.8 billion already contracted.
The president also said that R$ 853 million has been released for command and control operations coordinated by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), R$ 253 million for territorial management, and R$ 244 million for science and technology.
“The great challenge is to move from the predatory model to the sustainable development model in the Amazon. And for that, we need structuring projects that drive a new dynamic, a new industry, a low-carbon agriculture, a recovery of degraded pastures. This is the great strategic objective of the government and the fund. There are 28 million people who need alternative forms of life, when we will combat, implacably, the process of devastation and destruction of the Amazon,” he said.
New donors Minister of the Environment Marina Silva said that the government has received signals of interest from France, Spain, and the European Union to donate resources to the Amazon Fund. Last week, the United States also expressed interest in participating.
For the minister, the interest of major donors shows the return of Brazilian environmental policy, with the participation and actions of civil society, the scientific community, and state and federal governments.
Regarding the reinstatement of the committee, Marina Silva said that there are 14 projects, dated 2018 and estimated at R$ 480 million to R$ 600 million, already analyzed and qualified for approval by the fund and that can continue if that is the desire of the proponents.
The minister also announced that the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) will be revised and updated by April, bringing new priorities and allocation of resources. Until the presentation of this plan, the actions taken will be based on the criteria established in 2018, when the fund was abolished by the previous government.
“Unanimously, we prioritize, within the focus of what has already been established, projects to attend to the emergency situation of traditional communities,” the minister listed the yanomamis, kayapos and mundurukus.
Historic day For the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, today was a historic day. “It is very important and necessary to resume the Amazon Fund so that we can attend and take the indigenous peoples out of this emergency in which we find ourselves today, after these four years of abandonment by the federal government,” said the minister, adding that indigenous peoples are responsible for the protection of 82% of the world’s biodiversity.
Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture Paulo Teixeira highlighted that the fund will support reforestation of settlements in the Amazon and also of illegally deforested areas in the last four years. “We are recovering a time when we will recover the Amazon forest, so that it can play a role for the climate in Brazil and the world. To do this, we are inviting family farmers and settlers to join this effort to recover these forests that were destroyed.”
Source: Agência Brasil
