Germany – Environmental issues consultancy services – 10027690-Entwicklung und Implementierung strategischer Maßnahmen und Innovation zum Schutz des Tropenwaldes in Amazonien

The largest contiguous tropical forests are located in the Amazon, with approximately 4.2 million km2 in Brazil. They store enormous amounts of carbon and are central to climate and biodiversity. Nearly 20% of the original forest cover has been lost to cattle ranching, agricultural land, mining, and infrastructure. The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) guides cross-sectoral deforestation control, so that since 2023, large-scale deforestation has decreased by 50% to 5,796 km2. Increasing forest degradation threatens these advances: in 2024, the degraded area quintupled, primarily due to vegetation fires (climate change, arson, small-scale deforestation). The PPCDAm combines immediate control with spatial planning, land tenure, regulatory, and economic instruments. It comprises four axes, twelve strategic goals, and 194 action lines, supported by 13 ministries and agencies. Governance is provided by an Interministerial Commission and an Executive Commission within the Ministry of the Environment (MMA). The capacities in environmental agencies and the MMA, as well as the cooperation between ministries and states, and the processes of environmental control and protected area management, are insufficient. Effective instruments for fire management and restoration are lacking. Weakly secured land and use rights of indigenous and traditional communities, as well as the structural disadvantage of women, exacerbate the situation; crime impairs security and enforcement work. Opportunities: High priority of the government for forest protection, NDC target of zero deforestation by 2030, and restoration of 12 million ha. Political basis: PPCDAm, national policy for integrated fire management (MIF) and National Plan for the Restoration of Natural Vegetation (PLANAVEG). Project objective: The implementation of the policy for the protection of the Amazon rainforest is improved. Target groups: Environmental institutions at federal, state, and municipal levels, as well as traditional peoples and communities. Intermediaries: Specialists and managers of the MMA, federal environmental control agency IBAMA, federal protected area agency ICMBio. Political partner: MMA; Implementing partner: Special Secretariat for Deforestation Control (SECD, PPCDAm Coordination). Output 1: Strengthening strategic guidance/coordination of deforestation control; analysis of the effectiveness of PPCDAm and cooperation; better communication on the use rights of traditional groups; strengthening of ICMBio management; systematic gender integration. Output 2: Strengthening monitoring and control; optimisation of administrative sanctioning processes (accountability for environmental offences); training for IBAMA, ICMBio and states/municipalities; improved differentiation of legal vs. illegal fires/deforestation to achieve zero deforestation. Output 3: Broad anchoring of integrated fire management (MIF) with a gender focus; sensitisation, training strategy, guidelines for states/municipalities; support for regulatory work and decision-making proposals; involvement of traditional communities. Output 4: Strengthening of MMA for restoration; recording of restored areas for the control of PLANAVEG; closing strategic gaps in value chains (business models, professionalisation of seed/ nurseries); involvement of the private sector, mobilisation of private investments; channeling of fines into restoration investments (with IBAMA).