WORLD NEWS | Germany pledges $222 million for Brazilian environment and Amazon

SAO PAULO, Jan. 30 (AP) – German Development Minister Svenja Schulze announced Monday that her government will provide 204 million euros ($222 million) in funding for Brazil’s environmental policy.

Schultz told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, that $38 million was donated to the Amazon Foundation. It is the most important international collaborative effort to protect the Amazon rainforest, largely funded by Norway. In 2019, far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who viewed Amazon as an internal affair, disbanded a steering committee that selects sustainable projects for financing. In response, Germany and Norway froze their contributions.

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“With the new government and the team of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and (Environment) Minister Marina Silva, we have a great opportunity to protect the forests and provide protection for the people who live in the forest,” Schulz said. The people there offer new perspectives.”

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon has reached its highest level in 15 years under Bolsonaro as he scrapped environmental protection policies in favor of agribusiness expansion.

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Germany has also pledged $87 million in low-interest loans to farmers to restore degraded areas and $34 million to Amazon states to protect the rainforest.

“Despite all the difficulties, including increased deforestation, land grabs, fires, the plight of indigenous peoples, we see this as an opportunity to turn the whole situation around,” Silva told a news conference.

Lula, who took office in January, pledged to end all deforestation by 2030. His four-year term ends in December 2026.

Twice the size of India, the Amazon acts as a buffer against climate change because its trees absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide, and about two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil. It is also the most biodiverse forest in the world and holds 20% of the world’s fresh water. (Associated Press)

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