A coalition composed of 19 Brazilian public banks committed this Monday with 4.5 billion reais (830 million euros) in financing for green projects in the Amazon. The objective is to “generate jobs, income and alternatives for a sustainable, creative, innovative economy and an economy that keeps the forest standing”, said the president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, cited by the Brazil agency.
The signature was signed in the Amazon city of Belém, in the state of Pará, during the Amazon Dialogues, an event that precedes the Amazon Summit, organized by the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and which will bring together the eight countries that have in their territory the largest forest in the world.
Present at the event, the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, stated that the country has “to reduce deforestation, not with command and control actions, but with sustainable development actions”. “The Amazon has a place for all activities. There is room for sustainable-based agribusiness. It has a place for tourism, it has a place for extractivism, it has a place for indigenous peoples, it has a place for the bioeconomy,” she added.
From Friday, with the start of the Amazon Dialogues, until Wednesday with the culmination of the Amazon Summit, the largest forest on the planet will be the most important topic in South America, in a collective awareness that saving the Amazon means saving the planet. Tuesday and Wednesday officially takes place the Summit of the Amazon.
In addition to the eight countries that make up the Amazon (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo were invited, nations that, together with Brazil, have the largest rainforests in the world, as well as France for French Guiana.
Almost all the heads of state of the Amazonian countries will be present at the event, with the exception of Ecuador and Suriname. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who is the head of state of French Guiana, has not yet confirmed his presence. Norway and Germany, countries that finance the Amazon Fund, were also invited.
Here, the eight Amazonian countries must update the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT), signed in Brasilia in 1978, which provides for joint actions to balance forest protection and economic development. The update, according to the Brazilian Government, will focus on “respect for human rights, the intercultural approach and sovereignty”.
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