British environment minister, Therese Coffey has announced that Britain was considering joining the billion-dollar Amazon Fund reopened by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for fiscal sustainability in the rainforest.
While making the disclosure in Brasilia, where she attended Lula’s inauguration, she said that the British government was already in talks with Norway and Germany who are current partners of the fund and have donated $1.2 billion to set up the initiative, about getting involved.
Brazil’s immediate past president, Jair Bolsonaro who belongs to the far-right, had the fund frozen during his tenure based on irregularities he said he noticed among projects administered by NGOs without offering any proof.
However, one of Lula’s first decisions in office was reopening the Amazon Fund and revoking Bolsonaro policies that diluted environmental protection and helped contribute to deforestation that surged to a 15-year high, including a measure that encouraged mining on protected indigenous lands.
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Coffey is confident her government can offer a lot to Brazil in terms of support, such as programs in rural sustainability and low-carbon architecture to help in mobilizing funds with its strength as a global hub for green finance.
Having committed more than 250 million pounds from its international pilot fund, Britain is currently Brazil’s third largest collaborator on the environment, she said.
Coffey met with Environment Minister Marina Silva, Agriculture Minister, Carlos Favaro and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara.
Indigenous communities were especially badly hit by the illegal mining that advanced alongside deforestation in the Amazon under Bolsonaro.
“I see a desire and intention to turn that around,” she said, adding that Para Governor Helder Barbalho had invited her to visit his vast Amazon state to see projects in the rainforest, which she has never experienced before.
“I expect it to be life-changing,” she said.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
