The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) launched, this Wednesday, the 10th, the Floresta Viva Initiative. The objective is to provide financial support to forest restoration projects with native species and agroforestry systems in the various biomes of the Brazilian territory. The collection will be made through matchfunding, a financing model that combines non-refundable BNDES resources with those of other supporting institutions. In its first phase, Floresta Viva will have at least R$140 million available — 50% of which from the Bank — and could reach R$500 million at the end of the second phase.

To make the initiative viable, the BNDES held conversations with more than 40 companies. Among these organizations, Petrobras, Coopercitrus, Grupo Heineken, Itaipu Binacional — in partnership with the Government of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul —, Philip Morris Brasil and Vale, through the Vale Fund, have already confirmed their participation. Other institutions are negotiating to join the project.

“The Floresta Viva Initiative synthesizes concrete commitments of our partners and BNDES, so that together we can carry out actions to restore forests and other vegetation physiognomies in Brazilian biomes, which contributes to maintaining their richness in terms of biodiversity and carbon capture ”, explains Petrônio Cançado, director of Credit to Infrastructure at the BNDES and responsible for the Department of Impact Relationship with the Corporate Sector. “In addition, we will also make an important contribution to the recovery of watersheds through the restoration of springs, so dear to the country, especially to guarantee the security of supply for people and businesses that employ thousands of Brazilians. Due to this clear and relevant development mission, we hope to leverage R$ 500 million over seven years, with up to R$ 250 million from BNDES and the rest from partners in the corporate or public sector.”

According to Bruno Aranha, director of Productive and Social and Environmental Credit at the Bank, Floresta Viva will help boost the ecological restoration sector and Brazilian companies in the fair transition to a carbon-neutral economy. “With this initiative, our expectation is to reforest between 16 thousand and 33 thousand hectares with native species and biodiversity, being able to capture around 9 million tons of equivalent CO2 over the life of the projects”, he says.

Through a public call, a managing partner for the initiative will be selected, which should take place by the end of 2021. He will be responsible for organizing the public selection process of the projects to be supported - whose first call must be made in the first quarter of 2022. It will also have, among others, the attribution of receiving the resources of the BNDES and other supporting institutions and transferring them to the contemplated projects, monitoring their application and monitoring the results.

Projects aimed at ecological restoration of areas falling into one or more of these categories will be supported: Nature Conservation Units (CUs), in public ownership or domain; Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) areas, with the exception of those constituted as part of extrajudicial agreements, conditions/terms of licensing and/or environmental compensation or by court order; Permanent Preservation (APP) and Legal Reserve (RL) areas in agrarian reform settlements and in private properties with up to four fiscal modules, duly registered in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR); and areas in indigenous lands, quilombola territories and other traditional communities.

Each project contemplated will receive an investment of at least R$ 5 million. Resources can be used, for example, in the acquisition of seeds, seedlings, inputs, equipment and fences; in the implementation or expansion of seedling nurseries; in professional training; and in the payment of labor, research, studies and technical services necessary to carry out the project. Among the items that can be supported, there are also activities for the preparation, approval, validation, verification and issuance of carbon credits, when associated with the achievement of the project's objectives.