Meeting in London strengthens Amazon Fund's role

This week, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the G20 summit in London, Prince Charles - also head of the Prince's Rainforest Project - summoned a meeting with leaders of the world's largest economies to discuss solutions to halt the deforestation of rainforests across the world.

The meeting was attended by French president Nicolas Sarkozy; Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; US secretary of state Hilary Clinton; Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso; World Bank president Robert Zoellick; and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, amongst others. Brazil was represented by chanceler Celso Amorim and the general director of the Brazilian Forest Service (Serviço Florestal Brasileiro/SFB), Tasso Azevedo.

At the St James' Palace meeting in London, Charles announced the results of an 18-month study focused on finding a way to channel funds to protect forests as part of the fight against climate change. The prince urged leaders to support an "emergency package" to save forests by diverting up to US$ 15 billion every year, from 2010 to 2020, to tropical nations such as Brazil and Indonesia. Donor nations would be asked to commit to long-term funding, money could be held and allocated by a new global body - and tropical countries would be free to choose how to spend it.

In a foreword to the report setting out the project's findings, Prince Charles said: "If deforestation can be stopped in its tracks, then we will be able to buy ourselves some much needed time to build the low-carbon economies on which our futures depend. If we fail, global warming will occur faster and more dramatically... Knowing this I felt I should do all in my power to help find some kind of solution".

The project suggests rainforest nations could sign up to five-year contracts under which they would commit to reducing deforestation to agreed levels - and would then receive annual payments in return. But the money would only be paid if satellite pictures confirmed that trees were being protected as promised. It says: "This would be a businesslike arrangement, a service contract under which the world pays rainforest nations for delivery of ecosystem services, rather than providing aid in a traditional way".

World leaders agreed to establish an international working group to present a model for the idea until next July. The goal is to find a model which everyone agrees upon before the COP 15 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) to be held from December 7 to 18, in Copenhagen.  

According to Brazilian Forest Service director Tasso Azevedo, the high-level meeting "proved that we have managed, once and for all, to include forests and their sustainable use in discussions leading to the Climate Change Conference".

Minc - In Brazil, minister of the Environment Carlos Minc said today (April 2) he considered the discussion around the idea of creating an international mechanism "positive and emblematic", and that it revealed the Brazilian Amazon Fund's potencial for attracting funds for projects in the world's largest rainforest.

"We must be like a showroom to the world - offering projects focused on recuperating degraded areas and on promoting payment for environmental services, for example", he said. Minc also mentioned that Brazil was the first country (post-Kyoto) to establish a legal way of drawing in funds for forest conservation.