In a short space of time, the Amazon Fund became a turning point in the Bolsonaro government. Announced by Brazil during the COP-13 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) on the Indonesian island of Bali, in 2007, and created the following year under the Lula administration, the program emerged as a pioneering initiative in the world to collect financial resources from developed countries to keep the world's largest rainforest standing - and thus help in combating climate change.
The Fund has already received more than R$ 3.4 billion in donations and has become the main national instrument for funding actions to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, in addition to promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome. Its resources currently support 103 projects by state governments and civil society to protect the forest, including the Amazon Protected Areas program (Arpa). Aimed at the creation and management of Conservation Units (UCs), Arpa has 46 projects in the state of Amazonas alone.
The implementation of the Fund was prepared by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). Since the beginning of its operation, Norway has been by far the main donor (94%), followed by Germany (5%) and Petrobras (1%).
Of the total donated so far, about R$ 1.8 billion has already been disbursed and invested in projects. Almost 60% of these resources are allocated to the Union and the nine states of the Legal Amazon, including institutions such as the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), responsible for environmental monitoring by satellites in the Amazon biome. The other 40% are divided between third sector entities (NGOs) and universities.
Another R$776 million has already been allocated to this project. However, more than R$ 1.5 billion has no destination yet and may be resumed if the Fund is extinguished. And there are risks of this happening, as the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, said last Wednesday (3).
The Fund is on a tightrope due to impasses between donor nations and the current government around two main points: distribution of resources and governance. It is true that last year, Norway and Germany threatened the then Temer government to re-examine the release of resources due to an increase in deforestation between 2015 and 2016. But the threats did not move forward given the confidence that Brazil would do its part to reverse the problem.
That's not what happened. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in June of this year was 88% higher than in the same period in 2018, according to data from INPE released this week. The loss of forest puts fuel in the fight over the application of resources between countries. In May, Salles announced the intention to use money from the fund to compensate rural landowners who were expropriated for being located within the conservation units as required by the Forest Code.
Norway and Germany are against changing the Fund's rules, which currently do not allow the money to be used to pay compensation for expropriation. Environmentalists fear that the use of resources for land regularization in the Amazon would benefit those who invaded the protected areas of the forest and would generate even more deforestation.
In an interview with TV Globo, the MMA minister stated that in "cases where there is need for land regularization to reduce the conflict between the conservation unit and those who are inside, we will then develop mechanisms to solve this problem of land regularization. It is not to use all the resources of the Amazon Fund for this, but only to give support to these areas of pilot project that we want to do.
On the governance side, the configuration of the Guidance Committee of the Fund (COFA), responsible for determining guidelines and monitoring the results obtained, is another conflicting point in the relationship. The Bolsonaro government wants to increase the participation of its own representatives at the decision-making table to seek "more efficient management".
According to the institutional site of the Amazon Fund, COFA is a tripartite committee formed by the federal government, state governments and civil society. In addition to the MMA and BNDES, the Committee also includes the ministries of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Foreign Relations, Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic and the National Indian Foundation.
Donor countries are opposed to the changes. Germany has even temporarily suspended a donation of R$151 million to the program until the Fund's direction is decided. In times of growing environmental pressure, President Jair Bolsonaro will have to prove his commitment to the greatest protection mechanism in the world.
The Fund has already received more than R$ 3.4 billion in donations and has become the main national instrument for funding actions to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, in addition to promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome. Its resources currently support 103 projects by state governments and civil society to protect the forest, including the Amazon Protected Areas program (Arpa). Aimed at the creation and management of Conservation Units (UCs), Arpa has 46 projects in the state of Amazonas alone.
The implementation of the Fund was prepared by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). Since the beginning of its operation, Norway has been by far the main donor (94%), followed by Germany (5%) and Petrobras (1%).
Of the total donated so far, about R$ 1.8 billion has already been disbursed and invested in projects. Almost 60% of these resources are allocated to the Union and the nine states of the Legal Amazon, including institutions such as the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), responsible for environmental monitoring by satellites in the Amazon biome. The other 40% are divided between third sector entities (NGOs) and universities.
Another R$776 million has already been allocated to this project. However, more than R$ 1.5 billion has no destination yet and may be resumed if the Fund is extinguished. And there are risks of this happening, as the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, said last Wednesday (3).
The Fund is on a tightrope due to impasses between donor nations and the current government around two main points: distribution of resources and governance. It is true that last year, Norway and Germany threatened the then Temer government to re-examine the release of resources due to an increase in deforestation between 2015 and 2016. But the threats did not move forward given the confidence that Brazil would do its part to reverse the problem.
That's not what happened. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in June of this year was 88% higher than in the same period in 2018, according to data from INPE released this week. The loss of forest puts fuel in the fight over the application of resources between countries. In May, Salles announced the intention to use money from the fund to compensate rural landowners who were expropriated for being located within the conservation units as required by the Forest Code.
Norway and Germany are against changing the Fund's rules, which currently do not allow the money to be used to pay compensation for expropriation. Environmentalists fear that the use of resources for land regularization in the Amazon would benefit those who invaded the protected areas of the forest and would generate even more deforestation.
In an interview with TV Globo, the MMA minister stated that in "cases where there is need for land regularization to reduce the conflict between the conservation unit and those who are inside, we will then develop mechanisms to solve this problem of land regularization. It is not to use all the resources of the Amazon Fund for this, but only to give support to these areas of pilot project that we want to do.
On the governance side, the configuration of the Guidance Committee of the Fund (COFA), responsible for determining guidelines and monitoring the results obtained, is another conflicting point in the relationship. The Bolsonaro government wants to increase the participation of its own representatives at the decision-making table to seek "more efficient management".
According to the institutional site of the Amazon Fund, COFA is a tripartite committee formed by the federal government, state governments and civil society. In addition to the MMA and BNDES, the Committee also includes the ministries of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Foreign Relations, Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic and the National Indian Foundation.
Donor countries are opposed to the changes. Germany has even temporarily suspended a donation of R$151 million to the program until the Fund's direction is decided. In times of growing environmental pressure, President Jair Bolsonaro will have to prove his commitment to the greatest protection mechanism in the world.
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