The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is providing a US$ 72 million loan to the Brazilian state of Acre to promote sustainable forestry and agroforestry to keep deforestation in check while contributing to economic growth and poverty reduction.
22 April 2013: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is providing a US$72 million loan to the Brazilian state of Acre to promote sustainable forestry and agroforestry to keep deforestation in check while contributing to economic growth and poverty reduction. The loan was approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors on 10 April 2013.
The loan is a follow-up to a 2002 loan to help Acre improve its environmental governance, reduce open access to its land and improve the productivity of smallholder agriculture and forestry in the state. The new loan has three main components: US$37.16 million for expanding and consolidating protected areas and community forests for sustainable use; US$55.38 million for promoting competitive and sustainable forestry and agroforestry value chains; and US$18.41 million for strengthening sustainable forestry and agroforestry public management.
In the first area, the loan will, among other things: seek to regularize land tenure, through diagnostics of land rights, the development of the state forest concession system and an oversight, monitoring and supervision system for forest concessions; and support community forest management through technical and financial assistance to community forestry, including smallholders and traditional communities. Through this component the Bank hopes to bring the number of rural producer households entering into sustainable agroforestry value chains from zero to 8,000 within five years.
The second component, support for sustainable and competitive value chain development, includes strengthening producers’ organizations, the creation of a US$60 million private equity fund to finance commercial reforestation projects, and training and technical assistance for producers in the areas of production best practices, certification, financial management, contract negotiation and marketing.
The final component looks to update, streamline and supplement Acre’s regulatory frameworks for the forest sector, improve the institutional capacity of the forestry and agroforestry sector, and improve management and governance of protected areas in the state.
The state of Acre will provide US$48 million in counterpart funds for the project. [IDB Press Release]