Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest and most populous in the world. Forests cover about three-fifths of Brazil’s land area, which represents over 14% of the world’s forest coverage, including one-third of the world's remaining rainforests.
Despite the fact that the deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has decreased in the last decade, deforestation continues to be a major issue. Currently, six of the Amazon states are a part of the Governor’s Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF). The goal of the GCF is to connect these states and the fourteen others in the partnership with market and non-market finance. Brazil is also in the process of developing a national REDD strategy.
Brazil’s REDD+ financing landscape is set out below:
Mapping the flows of REDD+ financing to Brazil shows that donor government agencies are funding every recipient type aside from private foundations. The majority of this funding is directed to the Amazon Fund (managed by the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES).
Donor government agencies are channeling US$3.5 million through other donor government agencies. In general, donor governments are not recipients of international REDD+ finance. However in some instances, specific donor government agencies receive funds from another agency within their own government. Flows of finance from a donor government to a donor government might take place where development aid or climate finance is disbursed from one centralized department within a government with projects/activities implemented by other government agencies. For example in Brazil, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided funding to the United State Forestry Service (USFS).
Multilateral institutions have directed funding exclusively to the government of Brazil, while the public-private sector has exclusively funded the public-private sector – namely, the Amazon Fund. Private foundations have directed approximate one-fifth, or 22% of their commitments international NGOs and academic institutions between 2009 and 2012. Over 74% of private foundation commitments have been committed to Brazilian institutions including NGOs and Academic institutions.
An overview of the REDD+ financing landscape in Brazil shows the complex web of financing flows in the period between 2009 and 2012. Norway’s Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) committed 76% of the total donor commitments in the period, which has been channeled through the Amazon Fund (managed by the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES).
Donor government REDD+ commitments account for over 89% of all commitments tracked. Germany committed 13.3% of total donor government funding through the German Development Bank, KfW and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
Approximately 97% of REDD+ finance has been committed to Brazilian institutions including 84.4% directed towards the Amazon Fund, 11.5% going to the Brazilian government (both national and sub-national agencies), and 5.5% allocated to Brazilian NGOs and academic institutions. International NGOs and academia institutions are scheduled to receive around 2% of total funding tracked in the period.
Total commitments increased from US$136 million in 2009 to US$ 819.6 million in 2012. Disbursements have increased at a relatively consistent rate during this period, amounting to 30% of total cumulative commitments in 2011 and 32% of total REDD+ financing tracked by the end of 2012.
The data presented below highlights levels of REDD+ financing committed and disbursed, main donors, recipients and REDD+ activities in the period between 2009 and 2012. For more information on our methodology, please visit our FAQs page.