The Amazon is considered the most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Sadly, it has been facing large-scale deforestation due to climate change and logging. In an effort to fight this, Brazil has just pledged $204 million to help restore degraded or destroyed woodland in the Amazon rainforest.
The announcement was made by Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) at the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai. The project aims to rescue 60,000 square km (23,160 square miles)—an area around the size of West Virginia—in the Amazon rainforest by 2030.
The endeavor, named the Arc of Restoration program, will have access to a funding of up to 1 billion reais ($205 million) through 2024. In addition to fighting deforestation, it would also seek to capture 1.65 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere in six years.
“Avoiding deforestation is no longer the answer to the climate crisis. We need to be more ambitious,” BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante said in a statement. “Let's reforest, so that the forest regenerates. It's the cheapest and quickest answer to the climate crisis because it captures carbon and stores it.”
Carlos Nobre at the University of Sao Paulo, who first proposed the concept for the Arc of Restoration, described the effort as a “very ambitious project.” However, according to him, it would take restoring 70,270 square miles of the Amazon to help avert a tipping point that would see the rainforest turn into a degraded savanna, with just under half that area requiring active replanting. Still, the project offers hope for the future of the Amazon forest. Nobre adds: “This project has been put in place now because the Amazon is nearing a point of no return, so this is a very important, urgent and innovative initiative.”
The Arc of Restoration project was preceded by the announcement of “Tropical Forests Forever,” an initiative spearheaded by Brazilian officials which aims to raise $250 billion for efforts to protect and restore the world’s tropical forests. As overseers of 60% of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil seems to be making important steps in the right direction to salvage a priceless resource.
In an effort to fight deforestation, Brazil has just pledged $204 million to help restore degraded or destroyed woodland in the Amazon rainforest.
The project aims to rescue 60,000 square km (23,160 square miles)—an area around the size of West Virginia—in the Amazon rainforest by 2030.
h/t: [Reuters]
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