Mar 21, 2014

• March 21, the International Day of Forests, the BNDES’ Managing Director of the Environmental Division presented a 5-year assessment of the Amazon Fund at FAO’s headquarters in Rome

Three projects that received supported from the Amazon Fund in the state of Mato Grosso were the first to complete all stages of the support cycle: approval, award, disbursement, monitoring and rendering of accounts. Responsible for the Fund, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) provided all information regarding these projects – totaling R$ 8.3 million — on the website www.fundoamazonia.gov.br.

One of the completed projects, the Amazon’s Olhos d’Água, was taken on by the municipality of Alta Floresta (MT), which received support of R$ 2.7 million from the Fund to perform environmental diagnosis and register small rural properties in the Rural Environment Registration (CAR). Some 2,801 rural properties have adhered to the project, equivalent to 82% of the municipal area.

The established goal to recover 1,200 hectares of forest was surpassed (1,738 hectares are undergoing recovery), and the Ministry of the Environment formally excluded the city from the list of municipalities that deforest the most. The efforts of the Amazon’s Olhos d’Água project have directly benefited 10,992 people, in approximately 2,750 families.

Another project that received support from the Amazon Fund which reached the final operationalization stage was contracted by the city council of Porto dos Gaúchos, also in Mato Grosso. The R$ 120,000 transferred by BNDES enabled the physical and operational structuring of the Municipal Secretariat of Environment and Tourism (SEMATUR).

One of the indicators that prove the success of the project is the annual deforestation rate in Porto dos Gaúchos. Measured by the National Spatial Research Institute (INPE) in 2010 — the year immediately prior to the Amazon Fund’s support —, the deforestation rate was 21.7 km2. In 2012, this rate was reduced to 7.4 km2.

The third project that was entirely completed within the Amazon Fund, Sementes do Portal, received financial support of R$ 5.4 million to recover the permanent protection areas (APP) and legal reservations (RL) degraded in seven municipalities throughout the Portal of the Amazon, in the extreme north of Mato Grosso: Apiacás, Alta Floresta, Carlinda, Nova Guarita, Nova Canaã do Norte, Terra Nova do Norte and Matupá.

The Sementes do Portal finalized its efforts having recovered 1,246 hectares on 518 family properties, directly benefiting 1,916 people. The project also promoted family farming in the region. In three years, more than R$ 1.5 million was earmarked to purchase seeds and saplings directly from small farmers and the local indigenous community, who also received training in seed collection.

FAO – March 21, when the International Day of Forests is celebrated, the Managing Director of the Environmental Division of the BNDES, Guilherme Lacerda, at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in Rome, presented the results of the Amazon Fund’s efforts over five years.

Since it was created in August 2008, the Fund has put together a portfolio of 52 approved projects, which total R$ 820 million. Of this amount, some R$ 227 million has already been disbursed. The average implementation period for operations, after award, is four years.

The Amazon Fund is an initiative of the Brazilian government, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and managed by the BNDES. Its objective is to collect donations for non-reimbursable investments aimed to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, besides fostering conservation activities and the sustainable use of the Amazon biome.  The Government of Norway, the German Development Bank KfW and Petrobras have already donated funds to the initiative.