Examples of GIZ’s work: improving the climate by protecting forests

06.07.2015 – Human activities are leading to the destruction of more and more forests – with terrible consequences for the climate and the environment. GIZ therefore supports forest protection initiatives around the world, for example in Brazil.

Forests provide people with a wealth of resources – from timber and firewood to fruit and medicinal plants. They are home to three quarters of all known plant and animal species. Forests are also important for the climate because they produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, which can harm the atmosphere. And since forests essentially absorb greenhouse gas emissions, protecting them is one way of mitigating climate change. The Amazon Fund established by the Brazilian Government also takes this fact into account.

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is supporting the Brazilian Government in making the fund effective. The funding is to be used to protect forests in the long term. International and national donors are contributing to the fund, with the aim of helping Brazil to prevent deforestation in the Amazon Biome. In return, Brazil has pledged to invest the money in measures designed to tackle this issue. The Amazon Fund has over USD 916 million, the biggest budget of any national climate fund worldwide.

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) is responsible for the fund. It identifies new funding activities and develops tools for measuring the effectiveness of the projects that are given funding. BNDES receives support from GIZ to carry out various measures, such as organising training and information events and providing tailored advice to project applicants. ‘As a result of the training offered over the past few years, we’ve seen a marked increase in the quantity and quality of project applications,’ says project manager Helmut Eger. At the end of 2010, the Amazon Fund was only financing five projects; by May 2015 this figure had risen to 73.

Alongside the Amazon Fund, GIZ also supports many other forest protection initiatives across the world, for example in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.