Brasilia, Europe Brief News –Tens of millions of dollars were allocated to help Brazil defend the Amazon rainforest.
During a news conference in Brasilia on Monday, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze announced that Berlin would make $38m available for the Amazon Fund, an international mechanism largely funded by Norway that aims to prevent deforestation.
In 2019, Bolsonaro – who promoted greater economic development in the Amazon and loosened environmental safeguards – dissolved the steering committee that selects sustainable projects to finance, prompting Germany and Norway to freeze their donations.
“With the new government and the team of [Brazil’s] President Luiz Inacio 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,” said Schulze.
Germany also pledged to provide $87m in low-interest loans for farmers to restore degraded areas and $34m for Brazilian states in the Amazon region to protect the rainforest.
Just a few months after enduring floods, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with drought.
The world’s largest intact forest is witnessed the worst drought in decades.
The low level of the Amazon River, which is the heart of the world’s largest drainage system, has put dozens of municipalities on alert.
