The Amazon Fund is a mechanism aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, as well as the role of conservation, sustainable forest management, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). It was established to raise funds for investments in efforts to prevent, monitor, and combat deforestation, as well as to promote the conservation and sustainable use of forests in the Amazon Biome.
"We are seriously considering it," Coffey told Media on Monday in Brasilia, where she had attended Lula da Silva's inauguration on Sunday. She stated that the British government was already in discussions with the fund's current partners, Norway and Germany, who donated $1.2 billion to establish the initiative, about getting involved.
The previous far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro froze the fund, citing irregularities in projects managed by NGOs but providing no proof. One of Lula's first acts as president was to revoke Bolsonaro policies that weakened environmental protection and contributed to a 15-year high in deforestation, including a measure that encouraged mining on protected indigenous lands.
Lula da Silva reopened the Amazon Fund as well. Coffey stated that Britain has a lot to offer Brazil, including programmes in rural sustainability and low-carbon architecture, as well as assistance in mobilizing funds through its position as a global hub for green finance.
Britain is already Brazil's third largest environmental collaborator, she said, having committed more than 250 million pounds from its international pilot fund. Coffey met with Ministers of the Environment Marina Silva, Agriculture Carlos Favaro, and Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara. Indigenous communities were particularly hard hit by the illegal mining that occurred concurrently with deforestation in the Amazon under Bolsonaro.
"I see a desire and an intention to change that," she said. Coffey went on to say that Para Governor Helder Barbalho had invited her to visit his vast Amazon state to see rainforest projects she had never seen before. "I expect it to change my life," she said.
