Amazon Fund grantees fear a new funding freeze after Brazil’s election
The fund helped Brazil reach a 10-year low in deforestation, but conservationists are bracing for a potential sharp policy U-turn.
In 2018, the Amazon Fund allocated financial aid to a project benefiting 614 families in the Brazilian Amazon, involved in babassu coconut processing. These families, residing in 11 traditional communities of Tocantins, faced threats from soy cultivation and cattle ranching. The support aimed to help them maintain their oil, flour, and handicraft production while preserving the forest.
However, their fortunes changed when Jair Bolsonaro became Brazil's president in January 2019. Bolsonaro swiftly embarked on dismantling environmental regulations and putting the Amazon Fund on hold. Established in 2008 with initial contributions from Norway and Germany, the fund had supported 144 projects, aiding 288,000 people in forest restoration, sustainable production, firefighting, and combating environmental crimes.
Rayandra Araújo, a climate policy specialist at Talanoa, a Brazilian climate think tank, praised the fund as one of the world's leading initiatives to invest in rainforest protection.
With the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency in January 2023, the Amazon Fund's operations were reinstated. One of the projects revived was the babassu coconut breaker initiative, led by Alternatives for Small-Scale Farming in Tocantins (APA-TO). The project, which had been dormant for nearly a decade, resumed implementation in April 2026.
Selma Yuki Ishii, the project coordinator and technical director at APA-TO, expressed relief that the project was finally back on track. Lula da Silva's administration aimed to revive the fund's efforts towards rainforest conservation and sustainable development.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
