Vice-president Geraldo Alckmin said, this Monday (27th), that the United States is committed to raising substantial resources for the Amazon Fund, although the Americans have not yet defined an amount to be donated.
The statements were given after a meeting between Alckmin and the US special envoy for the climate, John Kerry, at the Itamaraty Palace, which was also attended by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, other representatives of the Brazilian government and from United States.
“The envoy John Kerry did not define a value, but stated that he will work together with the government, with the North American Congress and with the private sector in order to have substantial resources, not only in the Amazon Fund but also in other cooperations”, said Alckmin after the meeting.
The US intention to contribute to the Amazon Fund, recently reactivated by the Brazilian governmentwas announced during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s visit to Washington at the beginning of the month.
The US ambassador to Brazil, Elizabeth Bagley, said this month that the amount to be donated to the Amazon Fund is still being defined by the US government and Congress.
The official reason for John Kerry’s visit to Brazil is to advance the Brazil-US Climate Change Working Group, officially relaunched by Lula and Biden on February 10, and to advance cooperation between the two countries in reversing deforestation in the Amazon. Among other topics, there is also the promotion of clean energy and alternative sources of income for the population of the Amazon region.
John Kerry will stay in the country until this Tuesday (28), when he will travel to Panama. The US embassy and the Brazilian government have not confirmed a possible meeting between him and President Lula. Even today, the US special envoy for the climate is due to visit the National Congress.
Amazon Fund
The Amazon Fund aims to finance projects to reduce deforestation and monitor the biome. The financing mechanism had been deactivated in the last government and was reactivated now after determination of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). The fund currently has BRL 5.4 billion, BRL 1.8 billion of which have already been contracted and there are 14 projects from the 2018 public notice qualified for approval.
Created in 2008, the fund receives donations from international institutions and governments to finance actions to prevent and combat deforestation in the Legal Amazon. In 2019, Germany and Norway suspended transfers to new projects after the Brazilian government, under the management of Jair Bolsonaro, presented suggestions for changing the application of resources and extinguishing collegiate bodies for managing the money.
