Brazil will receive 5 million Swiss francs, approximately R$33 million, from Switzerland for the Amazon Fund. The announcement was made this Sunday (9) by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and the president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, during the “Swiss Presence at COP30” event, in Belém.
Created in 2008, the Amazon Fund is an initiative that supports projects and actions against deforestation, in defense of sustainable development and improving the living conditions of the population in the Brazilian Legal Amazon. Managed by BNDES, the fund relies on contributions from non-refundable donations from foreign governments and national companies.
The initiative, resumed in 2023, after being paralyzed during Jair Bolsonaro’s government, also supports the development of deforestation monitoring and control systems in the rest of Brazil and other tropical countries. The fund’s resources have already supported 144 projects, benefiting more than 600 community organizations and around 260,000 people.
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The actions also seek to strengthen forest management, bioeconomy, productive inclusion, the appreciation of traditional knowledge and the strengthening of indigenous, quilombola and riverside communities.
The announcement comes on the eve of the opening of COP30, in Belém, with the presence of 194 countries, in addition to the European Union. This Monday (10), conference negotiations begin, which will revolve around the definitions of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). NDCs are mitigation targets, that is, commitments adopted by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Brazil has committed to reducing its emissions by between 59% and 67% by 2035, covering all greenhouse gases and all sectors of the economy. To date, 79 countries have released their NDCs. They are responsible for 64% of emissions. The remaining 118 are responsible for 36%. The expectation is that the climate crisis mitigation agenda will advance with more concrete financing actions for developing countries.
