Brazil to use Amazon Fund for law enforcement

Photo: Ubirajara Machado/Mtur

Justice Ministry officials on Monday signed a contract worth BRL 318 million (USD 58 million) with federal development bank BNDES in order to fund law enforcement initiatives to fight deforestation in the Amazon.

The money comes from the Amazon Fund, which was created in 2008 by Brazil’s federal government and is managed by the BNDES. The Amazon Fund has accrued a total USD 1.3 billion in donations, over 90 percent of which came from Norway.

Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and the U.S. have also contributed, and the United Kingdom has pledged GBP 80 million (USD 101 million).

Andrei Rodrigues, Brazil’s Federal Police chief, said at a ceremony at the presidential palace that only with coordination among Brazil’s nine Amazonian states and its neighboring countries “will it be possible to fight organized crime in the region.” He celebrated the recent reduction in deforestation in the rainforest and said the new contract will enable new law enforcement initiatives to protect the Amazonian biome.

Data shows that crime rates have spiked in the Amazon region at a much higher rate than the rest of the country. The lawlessness plaguing parts of the rainforest was laid bare in 2022, when British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were murdered near the remote Vale do Javari reserve in Brazil’s western Amazon.

The presidential palace said in a statement that the funds will pay for federal and local security personnel, and the purchase and rental of equipment such as medium-sized helicopters, armored boats, and vehicles.

One of the main objectives of the program is to equip the upcoming International Police Cooperation Center (CCPI-Amazônia), in the city of Manaus, which will serve to amplify the cooperation between police officers of the Amazonian countries.

Federal Police will also strengthen its gold fingerprinting program in order to track and allocate illegally extracted gold.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the contract is “an extraordinary step to take care of the Amazon,” but added that the bureaucratic process to get it done took too long. “We now have to make the public bidding processes … If we take one more year, we will end our term [in late 2026] without putting our plan in practice.”

Meanwhile, a months-long strike by environmental workers is still ongoing.