UK may join Amazon Fund, says UK minister

The UK is considering joining the billion-dollar Amazon Fund reopened by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to fund sustainability in the rainforest, British Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Thérèse Coffey said. “It’s something we are looking at seriously,” Coffey told Reuters on Monday (2nd) in Brasilia, where she attended Lula’s inauguration on Sunday (1st), in her first visit to Brazil. She said the British government is in talks with the fund’s current partners, Norway and Germany, who donated US$1.2 billion to create the initiative. The fund was frozen by the government of Jair Bolsonaro, alleging irregularities between projects managed by NGOs, without presenting any evidence. One of Lula’s first decisions in office was to revoke Bolsonaro policies that weakened environmental protections and helped contribute to deforestation that reached a 15-year high, including a measure that encouraged mining on protected indigenous lands. Thérèse said the UK has much to offer Brazil, including rural sustainability programs and low-carbon architecture to help mobilize funds from its strength as a global center for green finance. The UK is Brazil’s third largest contributor to the environment, having committed more than £250m from its international pilot fund, she said. The British minister met with the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, and the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara. “It is very important on my first day of work to have the United Kingdom sharing the same goals,” said Minister Fávaro, who also received the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yuliia Svrydenko, according to a statement from the ministry. Indigenous communities have been particularly hard hit by the illegal mining that has surged along with deforestation in the Amazon under Bolsonaro. “I see a desire and intention to change that,” said the British minister. Thérèse added that the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, invited her to visit the state to see projects in the rainforest. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited

Agência Brasil