Federal Government partnership strengthens fight against deforestation in 70 priority Amazon municipalities

On Thursday, March 20, Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima /MMA) signed a BRL 61 million contract to structure Municipal Governance Offices that will strengthen deforestation surveillance in 70 priority municipalities in the Legal Amazon.

The agreement is an important step to adequately equipping municipalities to combat deforestation. Partnering with municipalities is a way to establish a link with society. The command-and-control agenda —which must be further intensified— is more effective when an Environment National System is working in the different spheres of the federation – the Union, the states, and municipalities”

Marina Silva 
Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change

The initiative is part of the Union with Municipalities program (Programa União com Municípios), one of the implementation instruments of the Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation in the Amazon (Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia /PPCDAm), and counts with the support of the Floresta+ Amazônia project. It will be implemented through a partnership with the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade /FUNBIO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

UNION — Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, highlighted the relevance of this signing. “The agreement is an important step to adequately equipping municipalities to combat deforestation. Partnering with municipalities is a way to establish a link with society. The command-and-control agenda —which must be further intensified— is more effective when an Environment National System is working in the different spheres of the federation –the Union, the states, and municipalities,” she highlighted.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT — The agreement aims to reinforce the trajectory of deforestation reduction in the Amazon, accentuated in 2023. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais INPE)’s PRODES system, the biome’s deforestation rate recorded a drop of around 46% in 2024 compared to 2022. Between August 2023 and July 2024 alone, the drop was 30.63%, the largest percentual decline in the last 15 years.

The contract signature strengthens the Brazilian Government’s protagonist in the global environmental agenda, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and reaffirming the commitment to the preservation of the Amazon.

VULNERABLE TERRITORIES — According to André Lima, MMA’s Extraordinary Secretary of Deforestation Control and Environmental Management, the establishment of the governance offices is an important step towards keeping the forest up in the most vulnerable territories of the Legal Amazon. "Amazon municipalities are key pieces for the efforts against deforestation and burnings. With this support, they will have real conditions to act in the protection of their territories and in the implementation of effective environmental policies," he pointed out.

Claudio Providas, UNDP Resident Representative in Brazil, underscored the Brazilian Government’s efforts to establish a long-lasting legacy of environmental protection in the biome. "It is a great honor for UNDP to join this initiative to further reduce deforestation in the Amazon and consolidate a new era of environmental management, led by the municipalities themselves, in tune with Brazil’s climate and conservation commitments, and with the 2030 Agenda in particular," he stated.

UNION WITH MUNICIPALITIES — The Union with Municipalities Program for the Reduction of Deforestation and Forest Fires in the Amazon (Programa União Municípios pela Redução do Desmatamento e Incêndios Florestais na Amazônia /UcM) is a Federal Government initiative to strengthen environmental governance in municipalities with high deforestation in the Legal Amazon. The initiative is expected to enable BRL 785 million in resources to promote sustainable development and combat deforestation and forest fires.

The program provides technical support, equipment, and training to enable city halls to act more efficiently in the prevention, control, and reduction of deforestation and forest degradation. It also fosters sustainable development and promotes environmental and land regularization in the municipalities.

REPRESENTATIVES — Also in attendance were the president of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis /IBAMA) Rodrigo Agostinho, and MMA national secretaries of Biodiversity, Forests, and Animal Rights (Biodiversidade, Florestas e Direitos Animais), Rita Mesquita, and Traditional Peoples and Communities and Sustainable Rural Development (Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais e Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável), Edel Moraes.