USD 680 million disbursed
The Amazon Fund is a REDD+ mechanism created to raise donations for non-reimbursable investments in efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, as well as to promote the preservation and sustainable use in the Brazilian Amazon.
Government of Norway, Federal Republic of Germany – KFW, Petrobras
The Amazon Fund uses the Logical Framework tool to plan, monitor and evaluate its results. To consult the complete document of the Logical Framework of the Amazon Fund (consolidated in 2017) click here. Independent evaluations are also promoted through this conceptual framework.
Project monitoring is based on BNDES processes, with mechanisms focused on checking that grant recipients are spending money on the activities stated. Two years after the project has been implemented, the organisation is required to submit an Effectiveness Assessment Report.
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) is responsible for raising and investing funds, monitoring the projects supported, rendering accounts and communicating results obtained.
The Guidance Committee − COFA is assigned with the responsibility of posting guidelines and monitoring the results obtained;
A Technical Committee − CTFA, appointed by the Ministry of Environment, is charged with certifying the emissions count from deforestation of the Amazon Forest.
The Technical Committee, as referred to above, will verify the calculations made by the Ministry of Environment concerning the effective reductions of carbon emissions from deforestation, appraising the methodologies for calculating the deforested areas and the amount of carbon per hectare used in the respective calculation of emissions. After consulting the Brazilian Climate Change Forum, the Technical Committee will be put together, consisting of six authoritative technical and scientific experts appointed by the Ministry of Environment, for a term of three years, extendable once for an equal period.
To be eligible, projects should directly or indirectly contribute to reducing deforestation in the Amazon. The Amazon Fund will support the following areas:
- Management of public forests and protected areas;
- Environmental control, monitoring and inspection;
- Sustainable forest management;
- Economic activities created with sustainable use of the vegetation;
- Ecological and economic zoning, territorial arrangement and agricultural regulation;
- Preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity; and
- Recovery of deforested areas.
Besides this, the Amazon Fund may support the development of systems to monitor and control deforestation in other Brazilian biomes and in biomes of other tropical countries.
In addition to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, proposed subject areas for support by the Amazon Fund may be coordinated in such a way as to contribute to accomplishing significant targets including prevention, monitoring and combat against deforestation, and targets related to promoting the preservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome.
The projects for the Amazon Fund can be submitted by several kinds of entities, whether they are direct and indirect federal, state and municipal public administration bodies; research support foundations; non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations of public interest; private companies; cooperatives; governmental and university research centers; scientific and technological institutes, environmental, agrarian and support (federal, state and municipal) entities; research support foundations linked to public bodies acting in the Amazon forest region, as well as entities involved in environmental control and fighting environmental crimes.
The eligible regions are Brazilian Amazon or Legal Amazon comprising all of the states of Acre, Pará, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondônia, Amapá and Mato Grosso, and the regions located north of the 13 ° S parallel of the states of Tocantins and Goiás and to the west of the meridian of 44 ° W of the State of Maranhão.
Requests for financial support from the Amazon Fund are submitted through a request form ("Preliminary Consultation") for approval from the Committee for Eligibility of Credit Operations of BNDES (CEC).
Once a preliminary application is submitted, it will go through an analysis for approval to determine if the project aligns with operating policies and risk parameters. An operational analysis will then be conducted to review all details of a project proposal. If the project is approved by the Executive Board, funds will be released on the condition that it is monitored through the implementation process.
A thorough explanation of these procedures may be found here.