May 3, 2013

• The Project is the first international initiative of the Amazon Fund

The board of directors at the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), within the scope of the Amazon Fund, has approved support in the amount of R$ 23 million to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), intergovernmental organization formed by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

The announcement was made in parallel to the 12th Meeting of the ACTO Chancellors, which took place on May 3, in Ecuador. The operation opens the Amazon Fund’s support to projects in other countries with tropical forest. It is aimed at helping develop the ability to monitor deforestation, land-use changes and forest-use in ACTO countries, whose territories comprise approximately 99% of the Amazon biome.

The ACTO is responsible for implementing the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT), signed in 1978. The agency operates as cooperation agent between the member countries of the organization and supports the implementation of programs that foster sustainable development and regional cooperation to improve the standard of living of the Amazon inhabitants.

With this approval, the Amazon Fund's portfolio totals 37 supported projects, in a total amount of R$ 462.8 million. All projects aim at reducing deforestation with sustainable development, the general objective of the Amazon Fund (read more at www. fundomazonia.gov. br).

The project has the support of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), and the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) structures the implementation as a National Coordinator Institution, through the Department of Policies for the Control of Deforestation. The National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE) will participate in the project, with training and technology available to monitor the forest coverage.

The project started in 2011, by structuring and implementing the "observation rooms", provided by partner institutions to analyze satellite images used in forest monitoring. The effort was carried out with resources from GIZ (German Technical Cooperation Agency) and ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization).
  
Currently, except for Brazil, which has one of the most developed satellite-monitored environmental systems in the world, there is no official data available on forest coverage and deforestation in other ACTO countries.

With an estimated completion date of 60 months, the project "Monitoring Forest Coverage in the Regional Amazon " will support the following initiatives in all ACTO countries, except for Brazil: structuring and implementation of observation rooms; access to forest coverage monitoring technologies; national monitoring plans; improvement, harmonization and standardization of the survey institutional capabilities of land use changes.
 
It will also support regional cooperation to combat illegal deforestation and the exchange of experiences related to instruments of public policies to reduce deforestation rates.

Both the project’s objectives and expected results contribute to REDD strategy (Reducing the Emissions due to Deforestation and Degradation), since they enable increased control of deforestation and forest degradation, by strengthening the monitoring systems and increased knowledge on data in each country.