04 Aug 2008
The Brazilian government has launched a new international investment fund designed to help tackle deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Officials said the fund, which will be managed by Brazil's National Development Bank, will aim to raise up to £10.5bn by 2021 from international governments and businesses. The money is expected to be invested in projects that promote alternatives to deforestation for Amazonian communities and improve protection for nature reserves.
Speaking at the launch of the fund, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that the fund underlined the country's commitment to protect the Amazon and help tackle global warming.
The move was welcomed by environmentalists who hailed it as the first time the Brazilian government has explicitly linked deforestation with climate change.
However, there was also evidence of the tensions currently afflicting international negotiations designed to help curb emissions from deforestation, with Silva insisting that while foreign governments would be asked to donate to the fund Brazil would retain complete autonomy over how it is invested.
How to better protect the world's forests has emerged as one of the key sticking points in ongoing international climate change negotiations. Following the UN's Bali conference, it was agreed there would be a greater focus on curbing emissions from deforestation, with supporters of forestry protection arguing that with land use accounting for around a fifth of global emissions, reducing deforestation represents one of the most cost-effective means of reducing emissions.
However, finalising a framework for protecting the world's largest rainforests has proved difficult, with some western negotiators claiming they should not be obliged to pay to help governments tackle illegal logging activity that they should already be addressing.
Responding to perceived criticism from western governments over deforestation, Silva said that other countries "talk as if they own the Amazon, but we know what it represents to humanity and to Brazil".
Minister for strategic affairs, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, said: "The fund is a vehicle by which foreign governments can help support our initiatives without exerting any influence over our national policy. We are not going to trade sovereignty for money."
Details on how the new fund will generate returns for investors also remain sketchy and are likely to hinge on the success of international talks designed to integrate forestry projects into international carbon trading schemes. While the sale of carbon credits against protected areas of forestry has secured significant support at international level, concerns remain over how such an initiative could be administered.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK? Add your comment
Fund to destroy the Amazon
Give us a break, Lula. Brazil has embarked on an ambitious program which ties economic development plans to large-scale infrastructure development, including roads, dams, mines, coal-fired powerplants, and industrial waterways in the Amazon ( see my blog http://tinyurl.com/5bhu9z ). Save the Amazon? Money would be better spent defending justice for popular movements and environments in the Amazon whose lives are threatened by loggers, ranchers, soy growers, and miners whose interests are defended by Lulas governing coalition. It would be better spent in supporting forest management programs by indigenous peoples and riverbank dwellers. In this case, "sovereignty" is a euphemism for reducing indigenous territories and handing over natural resources to economic interests. Donors take heed!
Posted by Glenn Switkes, 05 Aug 2008
Rainforest Preservation Industry
Indonesia and Brazil are currently the world's third and fourth highest greenhouse gas emitters, largely because of rainforest destruction. However, both these countries have the potential to become world leaders in addressing the problems of climate change and environmental damage. As stewards of the rainforests, these countries are standing on the threshold of an exciting new and beneficial industry, the rainforest preservation industry. While all countries should be encouraged and recognised in some way for protecting their forests and preserving biodiversity, tropical rainforests are particularly precious carbon sinks. Rainforests are vital for the world, so the world must pay for their preservation and management. This is not just about emissions, we must also cherish these rainforests as valuable ecosystems and bastions of biodiversity. Some people might argue, "We can't just pay these countries for doing nothing, for just leaving their rainforests standing". But it's not "payment for nothing". It's payment for preserving and managing a vital resource which is beneficial for the world, and compensation for development opportunities foregone. Of course, it won't necessarily be easy. There are many complex economic, social, conservation, forest management and governance issues to consider. But this issue needs to be addressed NOW, before the rainforests are all gone. I hope an alliance of world leaders from developing and developed countries will urgently cooperate on this. We need political will and leadership at the very highest level to make this work.
Posted by Elizabeth Hart, 05 Aug 2008