Agreement with Germany provides EUR 2.5 million for governance in the Amazon
28 de January de 2025
By Ana Cláudia Leocádio – From Cenarium
BRASÍLIA (DF) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) published, on Monday, January 27, a complementary adjustment to the Basic Technical Cooperation Agreement with Germany for the implementation of the “Technical Cooperation and Land Governance and Environmental Control Project in the Amazon.” The total amount to be made available by the German government will be EUR 2.5 million (approximately R$ 15.5 million).
The terms of the Complementary Adjustment were published in the Official Gazette, designating the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA) as the institution responsible for carrying out the activities arising from the agreement. It will be up to the MDA to make acquisitions and hire services or personnel as part of the project activities.
The Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE) will be responsible for coordinating, monitoring, and evaluating the activities, which range from guiding the national institution to visits and participation in missions and planning, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation meetings foreseen in the project.
The German government has been an important partner for Brazil in technical cooperation programs. According to ABC, the priority areas are projects for tropical forests, energy efficiency, and renewable energies. On the German side, projects are led by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), responsible for implementing the negotiated and approved projects.
The first Basic Technical Cooperation Agreement signed between Brazil and Germany took place in 1963, and the second was signed on September 17, 1996. The Complementary Adjustment published in the Official Gazette on Monday refers to this second agreement, taking into account both countries’ interests in “the protection and sustainable use of tropical forests.” It also considers the content of the Record of Intergovernmental Negotiations on Brazil-Germany Cooperation for Sustainable Development, held from November 29 to December 1, 2023.
Under this agreement on land governance and environmental control in the Amazon, the Brazilian government will provide a non-financial counterpart by making MDA staff available at operational and managerial levels, physical facilities, and equipment. The adjustment also provides for exemption of taxes and charges on equipment and tax exemptions granted to GIZ, as well as exclusive immunities and protections for the technicians sent and their families who reside with them and are not Brazilian nationals.
After Norway, which has contributed R$ 3.4 billion to the Amazon Fund since 2009, Germany is the second-largest donor to the fund, with R$ 387.859 million in contributions since 2010. The third-largest contributor is the United Kingdom, with nearly R$ 284 million.
Managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the Amazon Fund was suspended from 2019 to 2022 during the administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL-RJ). In total, the mechanism has accumulated R$ 4.5 billion in financial resources, according to data from the fund’s manager.
Six-year validity
Signed on December 18, 2024, the Complementary Adjustment is valid for six years, extendable for an additional two years. However, the details of the project, as well as the commitments to be fulfilled by both countries, “will be recorded in an Execution Commitment Agreement to be concluded between the Brazilian and German executing institutions.” If this document is not formalized by November 30, 2028, the entire project will be canceled, with no right to replacement.
Both countries will be responsible for monitoring the project’s execution, with the preparation of reports on the results achieved during the agreement’s validity period.
CENARIUM requested information from the MDA about the project, but as of the publication of this article, no response had been received.