Project selected within the scope of the Amazon Fund’s Public Call "Restoring Amazonia"

CONTEXTUALIZATION

The Amazon is critical for providing ecosystem services to the rest of the national territory and the planet. Restoring priority areas in the biome is urgent and can yield positive impacts on biodiversity, local populations, climate change mitigation, natural regeneration, and environmental regularization. Ecological restoration is a Nature-Based Solution with high potential for carbon capture at competitive costs and scale.

As a carbon removal technology, ecological restoration positively impacts Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), reducing net greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the country's goals for emission reduction and carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition to the NDC, the recently revised PLANAVEG (National Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery) maintained its goal of recovering 12 million hectares of native vegetation.

The goal of Restaura Amazônia is to transform landscapes by supporting dozens of restoration projects, addressing environmental aspects (biodiversity, microclimate, environmental services, water, etc.) as well as social and territorial dimensions, creating jobs, income, and professional training in green jobs within the forest restoration chain, strengthening its value chain, and fostering sustainable agricultural production (AFS).

Proposals must consider the region's socioeconomic and cultural context, balancing ecological benefits and ecosystem service maintenance with employment generation, income, water, and food security. Additionally, proposals should align with public instruments and policies related to native vegetation recovery in the region.

THE PROJECT

Launched by BNDES in December 2023, the Restaura Amazônia Initiative aims to support ecological restoration projects selected through public calls conducted by Management Partners chosen via public selection. The process received proposals until March 2024, with IBAM achieving the highest score among applicants for macroregion 1, which includes the states of Acre, Amazonas, and Rondônia.

Project selection will occur through Public Calls conducted by IBAM in partnership with BNDES and representatives from potential donors and relevant public agencies. The criteria for the calls will include: (i) technical and organizational capacity of the proponent and partners; (ii) technical restoration activities; (iii) costs; (iv) ecological importance of the restoration in the region; (v) productive chains, income generation, and stakeholder mobilization; and (vi) synergy with other native vegetation recovery activities.

Proposals must fall under one or more of the following land-use categories: (i) Nature Conservation Units (UC); (ii) Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPN); (iii) Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Reserves (RL) within Agrarian Reform settlements and private properties up to 4 fiscal modules, duly registered in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR); (iv) Indigenous Lands, Quilombola Territories, and other traditional community lands; and (v) undesignated public areas.

IBAM is responsible for working with BNDES to develop and launch calls for proposals in specific territorial contexts in Macroregion 1, contracting selected ecological restoration projects, and monitoring the physical and financial execution of the projects.

IBAM is a private, nonprofit civil association established in Rio de Janeiro in 1952, working to promote institutional development in Brazilian municipalities. Its work has expanded beyond government spheres, involving projects and programs in partnership with other Civil Society Organizations, private companies, banks, and national and international development agencies, including fundraising to enable investments.

With the expansion of its activities, IBAM has executed projects and programs with a wide range of institutions, such as national governments in Latin America and Africa; national development banks, such as BNDES and CAIXA; international development banks, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); multilateral organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN-Habitat of the United Nations; the Organization of American States (OAS); the European Union; bilateral cooperation agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit; as well as contributions from private companies, such as Suzano Papel e Celulose and Braskem, among other partners.

One of IBAM's main projects, indirectly related to the theme of the Restaura Amazônia initiative, was the Environmental Management Quality Program (PQGA), which aimed to enhance environmental management in Amazonian states and municipalities. With an investment of R$ 18.8 million from the Amazon Fund, the program was implemented between 2013 and 2018, benefiting 530 of the 880 municipalities in the Legal Amazon region.

Invited by the IDB and CAIXA, IBAM served as the General Coordination of the Program to Support the Management of Conservation Units (PAPP), aimed at promoting studies and projects focused on the management of federal

Conservation Units (CUs) between 2014 and 2020, managing resources totaling approximately USD 5.8 million.

IBAM has experience in the development of Municipal Master Plans (PDM) in the Amazon, in accordance with Federal Law No. 10.257/2001, focusing on guidelines for urban development that encompass not only urban areas but also rural and forested regions. Noteworthy recent PDMs include those for the municipalities of Porto Velho (RO), Boa Vista (RR), Jaru (RO), Macapá (AP), and Manaus (AM).

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project falls under the Sustainable Production component (1) of the Amazon Fund’s Logical Framework, contributing to direct effect 1.4 – Recovered and restored deforested and degraded areas used for economic and ecological conservation purposes.