Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Banks Join Defense of Amazon

By - - and IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 10 2008 (IPS) - Banks, whether public or private, will have to apply environmental criteria as of July 1 in granting loans for rural activities in the Brazilian Amazon. Agrarian and environmental certifications and adaptation to ecological-economic requirements will be required of small and large farmers, according to a Feb. 28 decision of the National Monetary Council, made up of the ministers of Brazil's financial portfolios.

“The great advance is the inclusion of private banks” in the fight against deforestation, because the state institutions were already imposing rules, Paulo Barreto, researcher with the Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon, told Tierramérica.

The new requirements will help reduce deforestation, which saw a new increase in the second half of 2007, though not that practiced by invaders of public lands that self-finance their completely illegal activities, he added.