According to the information, 93 million euros from the emergency program are to go to small farmers to support them in reforesting deforested areas. Another 31 million euros are earmarked for a newly established fund, which will immediately provide money for the protection and sustainable use of the Amazon forest.
According to the BMZ, a further 35 million euros will go to rainforest projects via the so-called Amazon Fund. Germany had already pledged these funds in 2017, but the fund was frozen under Lula’s right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Furthermore, according to the information, the emergency program is intended to support small and medium-sized companies with 30 million euros if they invest in increasing energy efficiency.
In addition to climate protection, the aim of the measures is to improve the situation of the indigenous population groups in the Amazon region, explained the BMZ. Their livelihoods are being destroyed by deforestation and other encroachments.
According to her ministry, Schulze agreed to work closely with the new Brazilian environment minister, Marina Silva, and the indigenous minister, Sonja Guajajara. The structural change promised by Lula towards a more sustainable economy will only succeed “if it is also social, if it is fair and if individual regions or population groups are not left behind,” explained the German minister.
A lot depends on Lula’s success – “for all of us,” emphasized Schulze. Climate protection will not work without Brazil. The Amazon forest is also known as the “green lungs of the planet” because of its essential role in protecting the earth’s climate. Under Bolsonaro, the destruction of this forest had progressed at breakneck speed.
Cooperation with the new Brazilian government on climate protection will also be a central topic of the visit by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who is expected in Brazil on Monday as the last stop on his trip to South America. A meeting between the Chancellor and Lula in Brasília is planned for Monday afternoon (local time), in which Schulze is also to take part.
