Germany and the United States, big Amazon Fund donors, expressed worry over Brazil's plans to use the funds to build a large road in the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon Fund, founded in 2008, has dedicated itself to mitigating forest degradation in the region. However, the Brazilian government intends to use the cash for the BR-319 highway project, which environmentalists say will worsen deforestation by giving illicit loggers easy access.
The German government, the fund's second-largest donor, stated that such a project is forbidden by the fund's guidelines. The United States expressed confidence that the fund would follow its governing regulations. The BR-319 project, which intends to create a 900-kilometer route connecting Manaus and Porto Velho, has raised worries about potential land acquisition and deforestation.
According to research, before Amazon highway projects have resulted in illicit deforestation and land grabs. According to the presidential decree from 2008 that set the Amazon Fund's spending priorities, the project does not fit with the steps that were meant to be taken. In December, the Brazilian Congress adopted a bill permitting the use of conservation funds for the road project, but it must be approved by the Senate before it becomes law.
The BR-319, which was built in the 1970s and abandoned a decade later, has become a dirt road that is nearly impossible during the wet season. While the Brazilian government claims that paving the road will boost economic and social development, environmentalists say that it is inconsistent with the fund's targeted support lines.
The Amazon Fund, which has over $1.2 billion available, has received fresh donor support following a vacancy during the previous government. Western donors ceased money payments in 2019 following the suspension of the fund's board and technical committee. Norway, Germany, the United States, Switzerland, and Petrobras, the state-owned oil firm, are among the fund's top donors.
The matter highlights the ongoing conflict between environmental conservation efforts and infrastructural development in ecologically sensitive areas.
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