Amazon Fund for rainforest received $640 mln in new pledges in 2023

BRASILIA -- Brazil's Amazon Fund for sustainable rainforest development received $640 million in new pledged donations from developed nations last year, the environmental director of the National Development Bank (BNDES) that manages the fund, Tereza Campello, said on Thursday. Of that total, $500 million was committed by the Biden Administration over five years, and still need approval by U.S. Congress. Since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office a year ago, deforestation in Brazil's Amazon has fallen to the lowest rate since 2018, after surging under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, a climate-change denier. Campello said the Amazon Fund currently has 3 billion reais ($610 million) available for investment in conservation and sustainability projects, with 2.2 billion reais already under study for release and 800 million reais awaiting requests. The Amazon Fund was set up in 2008 to raise donations for non-reimbursable investment in Brazil's efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, as well as promote the preservation and sustainable use of the Amazon forest.