Amazon to receive $250 mi for bioeconomy projects
Bioeconomy and sustainable infrastructure initiatives in the Amazon are expected to receive investments of $250 million in the coming months. The amount will be allocated to a line of credit for investment projects.
The announcement was made in New York this week by Banco do Brasil in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank and adds to the Amazon Impact Movement, signed during the UN Global Compact in Brazil.
The move aims to foster development in the Amazon by supporting bio-enterprises and local rural producers. Other objectives include financing projects to generate renewable energy and improve connectivity in urban, rural, and forest areas in the Amazon, especially in isolated locations.
The project is aligned with Banco do Brasil’s 12 Sustainability Commitments and the bioeconomy pillar of Amazonia Forever, an Inter-American Development Bank program for the sustainable development of the region.
Banco do Brasil’s vice-President for Corporate Governance and Sustainability José Ricardo Sasseron discussed the institution’s other sustainable efforts, including plans in degraded areas of the Amazon. “Our goal for forest preservation and reforestation is 1 million hectares by 2025. This corresponds to a third of the territory of Belgium.”
Sasseron noted that, before these agreements, Banco do Brasil had invested approximately BRL 136 billion in the Amazon area, as well as granting credits for the production and extraction of cocoa, Brazil nuts, and açaí, which, he said, “are products that preserve the forest at the same time as it provides an economic activity for the people living off off extractivism.”
Amazon in Times Square
As part of its global commitment to raising awareness about the importance of preserving the Amazon, Banco do Brasil, considered the world’s most sustainable bank for the fourth time, has launched the All Amazonia campaign with Times Square as its backdrop. To the sound of Orewa, an indigenous MbYá Guarani rapper, all the colors, exuberance, fauna, flora, and culture of the people of the forest flashed across the square’s big screen on Tuesday night (19) before the eyes of hundreds of people from all corners of the planet.
