BNDES invests R$ 126 million to restore degraded areas in the Amazon.

247 - In a joint action to combat deforestation and promote the green economy, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the Ministries of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and Development and Family Agriculture (MDA) announced, this Thursday (16), the result of a call for projects from Restaura Amazônia. The initiative selected 17 proposals that will receive R$ 126,1 million from the Amazon Fund to restore 4.131 hectares in the region known as the Restoration Arc, a critical strip of devastation that extends from Maranhão to Acre.

The president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, emphasized the strategic importance of the measure. “The recovery of degraded areas in the settlements of the Restoration Arc is fundamental to reversing deforestation in the Amazon, strengthening production chains and creating alternative income sources for those settled through agrarian reform,” he stated.

The scale of the project is unprecedented. It is projected that approximately 80 settlements will be served, benefiting around 6 farming families and generating 1.680 new jobs. The plan includes planting 6,7 million trees, combining ecological restoration with the strengthening of sustainable production chains.

According to Tereza Campello, Socio-environmental Director of BNDES, this is a “completely different” action. “Never before in history have BNDES and the Ministry of the Environment delivered so much with the Amazon Fund,” she assured. “Today, part of what we are announcing, which is the selection of partners who will carry out forest restoration in 80 settlements, is a historic action. We need to regularize the lands of the Amazon, and there is only one way to do this, which is with public investment to ensure that the agencies can carry out land regularization.”

Minister Marina Silva linked the program's impact to expectations for COP30, which will be held in Belém. "Productive restoration ensures that we have productive forests," she emphasized. "We want to show that a new cycle of prosperity is possible, and this time without leaving anyone behind: women, young people, indigenous people, quilombola communities, Black people. That's why COP30 has to be the COP of implementation: we decided that it's necessary to transition to the end of deforestation. COP30 will leave Belém with new foundations for us to confront climate change."

The Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture, Paulo Teixeira, stated that the Restaura Amazônia program has become the "apple of the eye of rural workers in the biome." "We validated this program throughout the territory, talking with land reform settlers, rural organizations, riverside communities, and quilombola communities," he said. "What is being financed here is reforestation with productive species that are more profitable than soy and livestock farming. At COP30, Brazil will deliver the largest reforestation program, with productive forests, in the world and with great prospects for economic development."

Projects selected by region

The selection process was divided into three macro-regions, each with a responsible management partner:

• Macroregion 1 (Acre, Amazonas and Rondônia)Projects from six entities were selected, including Ação Ecológica Guaporé (Ecoporé) and SOS Amazônia. The selection was conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Municipal Administration (Ibam).
• Macroregion 2 (Mato Grosso and Tocantins)Six proposals were approved, from institutions such as Instituto Perene and Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), managed by the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development.
• Macroregion 3 (Pará and Maranhão)Five institutions had projects selected, among them the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), with Conservation International (CI) as a managing partner.

Of the total amount available for the projects (R$ 137,9 million), the approved proposals totaled R$ 126,1 million. The remaining R$ 11,8 million may be used in future calls for proposals.

About the Amazon Restore Project

The Restore Amazon project is a comprehensive initiative that has already launched four calls for proposals. The first and fourth calls, funded by the Amazon Fund and Petrobras, are focused on conservation units. The second (focusing on settlements) and the third (for indigenous lands) are funded exclusively by the Amazon Fund. In the first call, nine proposals were selected, totaling 3.571 hectares and R$ 68,9 million in investments.