The German Minister for Cooperation, Svenja Schulze announced aid until US$ 217 million for the preservation of the Amazon, following meeting in Brasilia with the Brazilian Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva.
“That relationship we have survived difficult years and now we want (…) contribute our knowledge and make resources available,” Schulze said at a joint press conference, as reported by AFP.
Silva and Schulze celebrated the release of 35 million euros (equivalent to US$ 38 million) for the Amazon Fund that will be allocated to environmental preservation projects, which had been frozen since 2019.
The meeting between the two ministers was part of the preparations for the visit this Monday of the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholzwho was received by the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the Planalto Palace.
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Along with Norway, Germany had discontinued their cooperation in that fund “due to the lack of commitment of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro with the protection of the forest,” they indicated from AFP.
Germany intends to send a total of 200 million euros (US$217 million) as “cooperation measures” that include, in addition to the Amazon Fund, 31 million euros (US$33.6 million) to Brazilian Amazonian states to “projects for the protection and sustainable use of forests”, as well as a loan of 80 million euros (US$87 million) with low interest rates for farmers to reforest their land.
“It is a large sum” and “we will continue (cooperating) in that regard.” And he added: “We have a great goal in common, which is to advance climate protection, protect the Amazon rainforest, and that is only possible with cooperation.”
Other contributions to the Amazon
Among other measures, a fund was announced “guarantor of energy efficiency” for small and medium-sized companies (29.5 million euros, US$ 32 million), two “sustainable supply chains” projects (9 million euros, US$9.7 million) and a “consultancy for the promotion of renewable energy in industry and transportation” project (5.3 million euros, US$ 5.7 million).
In addition, the financing of a project for “reforestation of degraded areas” was agreed for 13.1 million euros (US$ 14.2 million). “Brazil is the lungs of the world. If it has problems, we all have to help,” he said Minister Schulze.
Minister Silva pointed out that the resources of the Amazon Fund may be used in “urgent” actions of assistance to indigenous communities, as in the case of the Yanomami, in whose territory the Lula government declared an emergency due to the increase in cases of malnutrition and diseases caused by the advance of illegal mining.
LM / ED
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