US-Brazil partnership is extended until 2024
The Technical Cooperation Program-TCP (aka detailed workplan) under the US-Brazil Partnership for the Conservation of the Amazon Biodiversity was signed by all partners on August 14th, reflecting an extension of the PCAB until 2024, and increasing its overall budget to US$ 80 million. The document provides a work plan for implementation, maps out the program's priority areas and establishes the partners' responsibilities.
Minister of the Environment, Edson Duarte, the Director of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), Ambassador João Almino, USAID/Brazil Country Representative, Michael Eddy, as well as the heads of the Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai), Paulo Carneiro and Wallace Moreira Bastos participated in the signing ceremony and highlighted the important results achieved under the PCAB partnership.
The PCAB is also aligned with the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) – one of the most extensive tropical forest conservation program in the world. The PCAB's main goals are to strengthen conservation and sustainable development in priority protected areas in the Amazon, to support the implementation of the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI), and to advance science and technology initiatives for innovation.
Created in 2014, the PCAB has already provided support for 48 Protected Areas in seven Amazon States, covering an area equivalent to the States of California and New York combined.
According to the Minister of the Environment Edson Duarte, the agreement is “already achieving important results for the Brazilian System of protected areas. The strengthening of the local economy through sustainable, biodiversity-friendly value chains from the Amazon that do not destroy the forest and, at the same time, increase the local population's wellbeing are very important for us. Examples of these products include Brazil nuts, açaí and pirarucu”.
This agreement was featured on government websites (the Ministry of Environment, Funai and ICMBio), as well as being broadcast on TV Globo channel in the Amazon region. Globo is the most popular TV network in Brazil.
