World Bank Approves $1.3 Bln for Brazil Environment

The World Bank approved today a $1.3 billion loan to help Brazil curb deforestation in the Amazon region and expand renewable energy.

The loan will be disbursed in two parts, with the second $500 million portion delivered upon fulfillment of goals set by Brazil that reconcile environmental protection with faster economic growth, the World Bank said in an e-mailed statement.

Deforestation in the Amazon region increased last year for the first time since 2004 to 7,341 square kilometers as surging prices for cattle and soybeans lured illegal land grabbers deeper into the world’s largest rainforest.

Environment Minister Carlos Minc announced last year a plan to slash deforestation 70 percent by 2017, a target contained in Brazil’s broader climate-change plan supported by the World Bank loans.

Ten environmental groups in Brazil had urged the World Bank to postpone a decision on the loan, arguing in a public letter that prior loans aimed at mainstreaming environmental considerations in economic growth policies have failed.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created last year an international fund that will seek to raise $21 billion in donations over the next 13 years to finance conservation and sustainable development projects in the Amazon.

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