BRAZIL/FILE: Brazilian government's debt with U.S. to become environment fund for the conservation of tropical forests

Record ID: 862807

  • Title: BRAZIL/FILE: Brazilian government's debt with U.S. to become environment fund for the conservation of tropical forests
  • Date: 14th August 2010
  • Summary: AMAZONAS, BRAZIL (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RAINBOW OVER AMAZON RIVER
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2010 13:00
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  • Topics: International Relations,Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVAB28RL7Q7FLT2HJPZIK18M65D9
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  • Story Text: Brazilian and United States officials signed on Thursday (August 13) a deal to convert a $21 million-dollar debt into a fund to protect the South American country's environment.
    Under the agreement, Brazil will have to use the money to finance projects aimed at preserving its coastal Atlantic rainforest, the dry Caatinga ecosystem and the savannah grasslands, known as Cerrado.
    The goal is to raise more funds for the conservation of these three endangered ecosystems that receive less attention than the Amazon.
    In 1988 the U.S. signed a bill to allow countries to exchange debts into investments in environment. They have signed similar agreements with 15 other nations.
    In a news conference in Brasilia, Brazil's Environment Minister Izabela Teixeira said both countries would benefit from the deal.
    "We have been paying these debts and with the USAID, the development cooperation agency, part of this debt has been converted and this conversion is being made through bilateral negotiations. We managed to receive this partnership and start direct part of this debt so that some resources remain in Brazil for the conservation of the environment. This is the innovative deal we closed," she said.
    The resources will be used over the next five years to tackle deforestation in Brazil's threatened coastal, central and northeastern forests.
    Teixeira said $6 million dollars would be available by early October.
    Lisa Kubiske, a counselor of the U.S. embassy in Brazil, said the investments would be closely monitored by U.S. officials.
    "We have a lot of trust in the Brazilian government and always when there is money involved we want to know what is happening. I really want to emphasize that up to now the government had been paying the debt regularly but we have been working hard to conclude (this deal) and use this money for the environment," she said.
    Over 70 percent of Brazil's vast savannah has been destroyed, threatening several species such as wolves, giant anteaters and jaguars that inhabit these grasslands.
    The scenario is even darker when it comes to the coastal Atlantic rainforest as only three percent of this ecosystem remains standing.
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