France Announces US$500 Million for Amazon in Partnership with NGOs and Banks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, has been mobilizing international leaders to increase the allocation of resources to protect the Amazon and other tropical forests.

On Monday, September 23rd, France announced a partnership with major international donors, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the NGO “Conservation International,” to raise US$500 million (R$2 billion.)

Emmanuel Macron said France would contribute with US$100 million of the total amount, along with the World Bank and Germany, the “Pro Green” program to help local projects,
according to the French agency RFI.

The announcement was made in New York, where the UN Climate Summit is taking place. The financing of reforestation was one of the central themes of a special meeting on the
Amazon organized by the UN, before the Climate Action Summit of world leaders.

The Inter-American Development Bank will support actions developed by the Amazonian countries. The Conservation International Organization, which is led by Harrison Ford, will invest in initiatives by NGOs, native communities, and private companies.

The US actor said today that the organization would allocate 20 million dollars for these projects to defend the Amazon.

The initiative to hold this meeting was taken by Macron himself, along with the presidents of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, of Colombia, Iván Duque, and Bolivia, Evo Morales. Brazil did not participate, and Macron regretted the absence of Brazilian representatives.

“We are discussing all this without Brazil present. Brazil is welcome here,” he said.

G7 Donations

In August, Macron also announced aid from the G7 countries to fight the forest fires; the support was about EUR20 million (R$91 million). The plan was improvised and rushed after the French president drew the world’s attention to the fires in the Amazon forest, and it was not clear how the money would be sent.

At the time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government said the United Kingdom would donate the equivalent of R$50 million reais to Brazil to fight the fires. And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would help by lending tanker aircraft and giving the equivalent of more than R$46 million reais to countries in the Amazon region.

However, Macron did not clarify whether his announcement already included these participations.

The Brazilian government questioned the interests of these countries in the Amazon region, but Minister Ricardo Salles said the aid would be “welcome” as long as Brazil could
use the resources freely.

Salles, who advocates restructuring the Amazon Fund by giving the federal government more decision making power, has promised to create a new fund with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the private sector.

The G7 news site questioned the Environment Ministry about the configuration of this supposed new fund, how the resources would be allocated, and also whether it would replace the current Amazon Fund – whose main donors are Norway, Germany, and Petrobras (oil company.)

The ministry did not respond. IDB advised that, for the time being, there is nothing to declare on the subject.