BNDES allocates funds for Amazon monitoring and reforestation

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has approved two significant funding initiatives aimed at environmental protection and restoration in the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes.

First, R$ 147.6 million from the Amazon Fund will be used to develop the Integrated System for Monitoring Natural Vegetation of Brazilian Biomes (SIM-Biomas). Managed by Funcate with technical support from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), this project will utilize artificial intelligence to expand real-time deforestation detection to the Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa regions. The system aims to combine the precision of the Prodes program with the speed of the Deter system to provide more frequent, detailed data on forest loss.

Second, R$ 250 million from the Climate Fund has been approved for Belterra to implement agroforestry systems across 4,000 hectares of degraded land. Primarily located in Pará and Mato Grosso, the project involves planting approximately 4.72 million seedlings, including native species and cocoa. The initiative, expected to be completed by 2031, aims to remove roughly 337,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent while creating hundreds of new jobs in the region.