<
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-pledges-222-million-brazil-environment-amazon-96765070>
"SAO PAULO — German development minister Svenja Schulze announced Monday that
her government will make 204 million euros ($222 million) available for
environmental policies in Brazil.
Of this total, $38 million is a donation to the Amazon Fund, Schulze told
reporters in capital Brasilia. It is the most important international
cooperation effort to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and is mostly funded by
Norway. In 2019, former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who considered the
Amazon an internal affair, dissolved the steering committee that selects
sustainable projects to finance. In reaction, Germany and Norway froze their
donations.
“With the new government and the team of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
and (environment) minister Marina Silva, we have a great chance to protect the
forest and to offer a new perspective to the people who live there,” Schulze
said.
Under Bolsonaro, deforestation in Brazil's Amazon reached a 15-year high as he
dismantled environmental protection policies in favor of agribusiness
expansion.
Germany also pledged to provide $87 million in low-interest loans for farmers
to restore degraded areas and $34 million for Amazon states to protect the
rainforest.
“Despite all the difficulties, the increase in deforestation, the land
grabbing, the fires, the dire state of the Indigenous populations, we see this
as an opportunity to reverse this whole situation,” Silva said during the press
conference.
Lula, who took office in January, pledged to end all deforestation by 2030. His
four-year term ends in December 2026.
The Amazon, which covers an area twice the size of India, acts as a buffer
against climate change because its trees absorb large amounts of carbon
dioxide, and roughly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest lies in Brazil. It is
also the most biodiverse forest in the world and holds 20% of the world’s fresh
water."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-tropical-diseases-womens-china-miyawaki-amazon/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
