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Wal-mart mulling contribution to Brazil's Amazon rainforest fund Rhet A. Butler, mongabay.com October 26, 2008
Speaking to the press Friday following the first meeting of the Amazon Fund's Guiding Committee, Minc said that Wal-mart, Petrobras, and American energy company AES have expressed interest in contributing the Brazil's newly established fund for promoting conservation and sustainable development of the Amazon rainforest, according to O Globo. The fund seeks to raise $21 billion to protect and sustainably use the Amazon for perpetuity. Norway has already pledged up to $1 billion over the next seven years to the fund, including $140 million in 2009. Minc said the companies see the Fund as a means to burnish their environmental image. "These companies want to associate their names and their images with protecting the Amazon," O Globo quoted Minc as saying. "There are many companies that have expressed interest. In December at the international [climate] conference in Poland two or three donor companies will be announced."
The Fund has been criticized in some circles for relying on donations rather than market mechanisms for avoiding deforestation. Some have complained that the Brazilian government has yet to detail its plans to reduce deforestation or how much of the Amazon it seeks to protect. Nevertheless conservation of the Amazon is increasingly seen as critical for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. The Amazon — Earth's largest rainforest — is estimated to hold 90-140 billions tons of carbon, but forest loss results in millions of tons of emissions annually, putting Brazil among the world's top five emitters of carbon dioxide. Future international climate negotiations are expected to provide financial incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation. Word of Wal-mart's potential involvement in the Fund comes two days after the retail giant announced it would invest $100 billion in Brazil to expand its operations. In recent years Wal-mart has also embarked on an initiative to improve its environmental performance throughout its global supply chain, even mandating "green" manufacturing standards among its suppliers in China. Related articles Future threats to the Amazon rainforest (7/31/2008) Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This is a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Global Commodities Boom Fuels New Assault on Amazon (6/20/2008) With soaring prices for agricultural goods and new demand for biofuels, the clearing of the world's largest rain forest has accelerated dramatically. Unless forceful measures are taken, half of the Brazilian Amazon could be cut, burned or dried out within 20 years. 2007 Amazon fires among worst ever (10/22/2007) By some measures, forest fires in the Amazon are at near-record levels, according to analysis Brazilian satellite data by mongabay.com. A surge in soy and cattle prices may be contributing to an increase in deforestation since last year. News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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