No projects to protect forests

06/07/2012 - 10h25

The fund that was created in 2008 to support environmental preservation activities in the Amazon is running into trouble with other demand on the BNDES, the Brazilian development bank, but also with the lack of preparation from civil society organizations and the lack of projects from the government.

All together, these factors make it hard to take advantage of the Amazon Fund, which was considered a huge victory in the effort to get developed countries to finance activities that would fight the greenhouse effect.

The resources that were donated by governments and companies are run through the BNDES to conservation projects in the region, and, to a lesser extent, to other ecological areas outside the Amazon.

The creation of the mechanism was proposed by Brazil at the environmental conference in Nairobi in 2006. Even with Norway's promise to donate US$1 billion by the year 2015, as of May 15, the fund only had 21 contracts finalized, for a total of R$259.2 million. The money that is not used will be lost, and the bank will not be reimbursed.

Despite the potential of the projects-two of which helped Alta Floresta (MT) get off the list of the worst environmental offenders-the assessment of BNDES itself is that the challenges of preserving the forest "demands an increase in the scale of operations." The bank, on the other hand, says that the performance thus far has been "successful," and that the fund presents better results than other similar instruments.

A member of Amazon Fund steering committee, Adriana Ramos, thinks that part of the demand on the BNDES is the lack of preparation on the part of the civil society organizations that have just begun to restrict access to natural resources for big institutions.

"It's difficult to support communities and local organizations, which are often the ones that have to deal with more sensitive situations in order to conserve the forest," she said.

She also criticizes what could be described as the lack of initiative by the government. Of the 21 projects that have been approved, only one is from a federal organization, the Federal University of Pará.

In order to address environmental degradation, the initiatives that are supported usually combine a series of actions. One such example is the project developed by Ipam (the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon), which just received R$24.9 million from the fund.

In the next five years, the institution will work in three villages in the western part of the state of Pará to develop a model for sustainable development. The actions include standardizing the funding, capacity building in agricultural techniques, and paying for environmental services.

For Osvaldo Stella of Ipam, the Amazon fund is important because it encourages the design of models that can be replicated in other areas. He did say, however, that the bureaucracy makes access to resources more difficult-in the case of Ipam, the approval of the R$24.9 took 30 months.

"The financing of our project passed through the same process as the Belo Monte dam," he said, citing the R$25 billion hydroelectric plant that will flood about 500 km of Pará.

MONEY FROM NORWAY

The slowness of the implementation of the fund has also irritated Norway, the main donor.

A source from the Norwegian government complained about inefficiency and asked for more effort from the Brazilians. According to this source, the program, "Bolsa Verde," which roughly translates as "Green Grant," is a kind of environmental branch of the Brazil Without Misery program, which could have been financed by the Amazon Fund.

In an interview with Folha, the Norwegian minister of the environment avoided weaving in criticism of the fund. Baard Vegar Solhjell praised Brazilian initiatives to reduce the destruction of forests-"probably the best effort in the world to reduce CO2 emissions,"-although he recognized that "there are challenges."

For the minister, the possibility that the country could donate the promised US$1 billion, really depends on "when Brazil begins showing results." As of now, Norway has confirmed its contract to donate R$798.9 million. They have actually deposited R$182.3 million in the bank (21.3 percent of the total).

Translated by ANNA EDGERTON