BNDES approves the first five projects within the scope of the Amazon Fund

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has approved the first five projects that are set to receive funding from the Amazon Fund, Brazilian government officials announced during the United Nations Climate Conference, in Copenhagen. In total, US$ 40.2 million will be disbursed to prevent and combat deforestation, collect environmental and land data on rural properties, and restore degraded areas.

The five projects in question were presented by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation; the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment; the Institute of Environmental Conservation "The Nature Conservancy do Brasil" (TNC Brasil); the Ouro Verde Institute; and the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity (Funbio).

The Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (Fundação Amazonas Sustentável) will receive US$ 11 million to expand the Forest Assistance Program. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions stemming from deforestation, besides improving the standard of living of the population. The program will pay the community for forest maintenance services.

For the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia), a total of US$ 5.5 million was approved and is earmarked for efforts towards mobilizing communities within 11 municipalities in the state of Pará to collect environmental and rural data, as well as accelerating the enrollment of land owners at the Environmental Rural Register. The Institute of Environmental Conservation (TNC Brasil) will receive US$ 9.1 million to operate in 12 municipalities, mobilizing the population to enroll in the Environmental Rural Register.

The Portal Seed Project (Projeto Semente do Portal), of the Ouro Verde Institute, will receive US$ 3.1 million to recover 1,200 hectares of degraded areas and to promote the recovery of family farming in six municipalities that are part of the Portal Territory (Território Portal) in the Amazon, in the state of Mato Grosso.

The BNDES will also provide support of US$ 11.4 million from the Amazon Fund to the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity (Fundo Brasileiro de Biodiversidade -Funbio). Resources will be invested in the second phase of the Arpa Program to combat deforestation. This will be made possible through the creation and consolidation of Conservation Units (UCs).

Today, the Amazon Fund has the equivalent of US$ 110 million (700 million krones) donated by the Kingdom of Norway for 2009. For 2010, Norway has already promised a larger sum, 750 million krones (approx. US$ 125 million). The total donation will reach US$ 1 billion in the next seven years.

Created in August 2008, the Amazon Fund is aimed at raising donations for non-reimbursable investments into two concepts: efforts towards prevention, monitoring and combating deforestation; and efforts towards promoting the conservation and sustainable use of forests in the Amazon biome.

The areas that will receive support are: management of public forests and protected areas; environmental control, monitoring and inspection; sustainable forest management; economic activities developed through the sustainable use of the forest; Ecologic and Economic Zoning, land-use planning and land-title regularization; conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; and recovery of deforested areas.

All projects that receive the support of the Amazon Fund are expected to contribute to reducing deforestation in the region. Up to 20% of the Fund's resources are, however, allowed to be used to finance projects for the development of monitoring systems and control of deforestation in other Brazilian biomes and in other countries with tropical forests.

The Amazon Fund has a Guidance Committee (Cofa) which is responsible for defining the criteria and strategic norms to be followed when analyzing the projects submitted to the BNDES requesting resources from the Fund. Cofa comprises representatives from the federal government, from each of the states in the Legal Amazon region, as well as members of civil society.

The initiatives receiving support from the Fund are also expected to be aligned with the norms of the Sustainable Amazon Plan and of the Plan for Preventing and Controlling Deforestation in the Legal Amazon.