Brazil and Germany launch springs areas restoration agreement at COP 28

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, presented on Friday, December 8, at the UN Climate Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a EUR 25 million (BRL134 million) agreement for forest restoration and sustainable management in the transition zone of the Amazon and Cerrado biomes.

This program we have launched will support the production chains necessary for forest restoration, generating employment and income in rural areas and allowing restoration to be done on a larger scale.”

Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

The contribution is part of the package of EUR 101,8 million (about BRL 540 million) for environmental projects in Brazil announced on Monday (4), during an official visit by President Lula and Minister Marina to Berlin. The transfers are the result of technical and financial cooperation between the countries, the ministers announced in the German Pavilion at COP 28

 High-resolution photos (Flickr)

The funds will go to restoration projects of spring areas in the transition zone of the Cerrado and the Amazon biomes, a key region for aquifer recharge. The actions will help Brazil meet the commitment made in the Paris Agreement to restore 12 million hectares by 2030.

The Cerrado, the minister emphasized, acts as a repository for water distributed to the country's hydrographic basins: "We have more than 400,000 hectares on river banks and around springs in the Cerrado, which take water to the Amazon Basin," Marina said. “This program that we have launched will support the production chains necessary for forest restoration, generating employment and income in the rural area and allowing restoration to be done on a larger scale”

The drought in the Amazon, the largest in 120 years, is a consequence of the climate crisis and its impacts on the environment and communities in the region, Baerbock said. The German minister stressed the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 ºC compared to pre-industrial levels.

"Forests are crucial to our waters, climate and biodiversity, as well as people's livelihoods,” Baerbock said. "With the partnership signed four days ago, we have joined forces for an ecologically and socially just transformation.”

The project in Brazil and Germany will be implemented by the Progreen Program, which is managed by the World Bank. Other partners may contribute to the initiative. “A healthy Amazon Rainforest is in the interest of all of us, " the German minister said.

BRL 540 MILLION  The USD 25 million is part of the EUR 101.8 million German support package signed earlier this week. The funds will be allocated to nine priority areas.

• EUR 30 million (BRL 160 million) for Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation (PPCDs). The resource will support the structuring of plans for the Pantanal, the Atlantic Forest, the Caatinga and the Pampa.
• EUR 25 million (BRL 134 million) for Progreen, a global partnership for sustainable and resilient landscapes. The funds will contribute to meeting Brazil's climate target and will finance forest restoration and sustainable management activities in the Amazon and Cerrado.
• EUR 22 million euros (BRL 118 million) for ARPA Comunidades, in support of communities in protected areas in the Amazon.
• EUR 10 million (BRL 54 million) for PoMuC II, climate change policy program. The resource will go towards mitigation and adaptation actions, with an emphasis on protecting biodiversity.
• EUR 4.5 million (BRL 24 million) for innovation partnerships, in support of the PPCDs and the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity.
• EUR 4 million euros (BRL 21 million) for TerraMar III, initiative for the protection and integrated management of marine and coastal biodiversity.
• EUR 4 million (BRL 21 million) for Action4Forests, in support of forest protection in Brazil.
• EUR 2 million (BRL 10.7 million) for ProAdapta and the implementation of the National Climate Change Adaptation agenda.
• EUR 300 thousand (BRL 1.6 million) for the structuring of a federal protocol for environmental monitoring of mercury in the Amazon.

HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP - Bilateral cooperation with Germany has already resulted in a number of public policies in the country. The Pilot Program for the Protection of Brazil's Tropical Forests (PPG7), implemented in the 1990s, enabled several projects that contributed to the protection of the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon Rainforest.

”We turned those pilot experiments into public policies, we gave scale to the experiments and they turned into very successful policies," Marina said.

Germany was also one of the first donors to the Amazon Fund, which was resumed in January after four years of paralysis, by decision of the previous government, with more than BRL 4 billion in cash. New donations announced in the last 11 months total BRL 3.5 billion.

AGENDA - Marina Silva's agenda at COP 28 this Friday included a plenary meeting and participation in the ministerial meeting of the “Climate and Clean Air Coalition”, which brings together more than 160 governments, private sector organizations and civil society for the reduction of air pollution.

The minister also participated in a debate on children's rights in climate action and met with representatives of South American Ministries of Environment and with young people from civil society. Marina met with the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, at the pavilion of the interstate consortium of the Legal Amazon. The state will host COP 30 in 2025.