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| 01/03/2012 |
ENVIRONMENT: GEF Grant to Help Brazil Protect an additional 13.5 Million Hectares in the Amazon |
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$ 15.9 million Global Environment Facility grant for the Second Phase of the Amazon Region Protected Area Program, to be implemented by the Government of Brazil and the World Bank .
Thirteen and a half million hectares of additional new protected areas will be created in the next four years. According to the World Bank , the grant will also help consolidate 32 million hectares of existing areas.
With an area of 4.1 million km2, the Brazilian Amazon is the largest continuous rainforest in the world, providing essential global environmental benefits, specifically in terms of biodiversity, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. It is also home to 24 million people, who have lower than average income and live in less urbanized conditions than the rest of the country.
Due to Brazil’s clean energy matrix, carbon emissions from land use change and deforestation represent 45 percent of the country’s total annual emissions. Multiple strategies have been implemented to counter the destruction of the forest and the establishment of protected areas has proved to be a very efficient one.
During its first phase, the ARPA Program created 24 million hectares of protected areas and consolidated 8.5 million hectares. It is estimated that the recent expansion of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon reduced the region’s deforestation by 37 percent between 2004 and 2006.
A recent study by the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Amazon Environmental Research Institute and World Wildlife Fund estimates that 13 protected areas created under ARPA from 2003 to 2007 will contribute to offset greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 430 million tons of carbon by 2050. |
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