BRAZIL: ENORMOUS AMAZONAS STATE PLANS AMBITIOUS APPROACH ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000270 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR OES/ENRC AND OES/EGC DEPT FOR WHA-BSC/MDRUCKER AND DSCHNIER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG KSCA TSPL EAID ENRG NOAA NASA BR SUBJECT: BRAZIL: ENORMOUS AMAZONAS STATE PLANS AMBITIOUS APPROACH ON DEFORESTATION / CLIMATE CHANGE; SEEKS U.S. HELP REF: A) 2008 BRASILIA 1666, B) BRASILIA 244 C) 2008 BRASILIA 1159 BRASILIA 00000270 001.2 OF 003 (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AND NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. By December of this year, the State of Amazonas - which contains nearly half of the remaining Brazilian Amazon Forest - plans to announce its own climate change plan and state-wide target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To accomplish this goal Governor Eduardo Braga, Environment Secretary Nadia Ferreira, and Director General of the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazonas (FAS) Virgilio Viana are planning ambitious programs and activities to address the challenges of deforestation and climate change. These key officials are eager to obtain U.S. - federal, state, and NGO - and other foreign scientific, technical and financial assistance to support their efforts, especially with Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects, land title registration, emissions and carbon inventorying, ecological zoning and resource mapping, and forest management. END SUMMARY. AMAZONAS STATE AND THE THREAT OF DEFORESTATION ¶2. (SBU) The State of Amazonas is by far the largest in Brazil, with approximately 1.6 million square kilometers - almost the size of Alaska. According to State Environment Secretary Ferreira, virtually the entire state is covered by tropical forest, of which about 98 percent remains intact. Amazonas State's forests makes up nearly half of the Brazilian Amazon and the carbon it contains. The majority of the state's three million plus inhabitants live in or around the capital city of Manaus; the rest are scattered in relatively isolated communities. Nearly 54% of the land is protected as a federal or state reserve or an indigenous territory; further, the state plans to establish six new reserves soon with 2,300 square kilometers. ¶3. (SBU) The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) calculated that last year 11.9 thousand square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon were deforested with another 24 thousand square kilometers degraded, but not yet cleared (REFTEL A). To date, Amazonas State (with 479 square kilometers deforested and a mere 65 square kilometers cleared) has been shielded from the region's large scale burning and clear cutting of forest land - termed the "arc of fire." This deforestation has decimated forests in Amazonas' eastern and southern neighboring states of Para (5,180 square kilometers deforested and 12.5 thousand square kilometers degraded) and Mato Grosso (3,259 square kilometers deforested and 7.7 thousand square kilometers degraded). For now deforestation remains more a looming threat than an actuality in Amazonas. ¶4. (SBU) Ferreira points out that deforestation is not the leading source of GHG emissions in Amazonas, unlike the situation for Brazil as a whole. In Amazonas, where the majority of its power generation is based on fossil fuels in thermoelectric facilities, electricity generation is responsible for the largest portion of GHG emissions. The lack of a transmission infrastructure precludes access to cleaner sources of energy. Ferreira added that the other main sources of GHG emissions are industrial production in the Manaus area and transportation. REDD AND FOUNDATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE AMAZONAS (FAS) ¶5. (SBU) Governor Braga recognizes the steadily approaching threat of massive deforestation. He has stressed to EmbOffs the importance his state places on acting now to prevent such a catastrophe. He vigorously advocates for the introduction of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programs. In November 2008, Gov. Braga joined two other governors from the states of Mato Grosso and Amapa, both in the Amazon region, as well as the governors of California, Illinois and Wisconsin in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together on "programs for protecting and restoring tropical forests as part of a strategy to combat climate change." The MOU envisions "carbon emitters in industrialized societies paying for the service provided by tropical forests in absorbing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide." Conservation International and other international and national conservation organizations are looking into how to support implementation of the MOU. ¶6. (SBU) In 2007, Governor Braga created the Foundation for a Sustainable Amazonas (FAS)with Luis Furlan, an ex-Minister of Industry, Commerce and Development, as its President, and former Amazonas State Environment Secretary Virgilio Viana as its Director BRASILIA 00000270 002.2 OF 003 General. To date, the fund has obtained about Reais 70 million (or around USD 30 million) in financial support from the large Brazilian bank Bradesco, Marriott, and most recently Coca-Cola Brazil. FAS has two ongoing projects. First, is the Bolsa Floresta (or the Forest Subsidy) to pay families living within state conservation units Reais 50 (or about USD 20) per month for preserving the forest. Thus far, the program has only been extended to two of the state's 34 conservation units. There are about 4,000 families participating. Ferreira said that FAS expects to increase that number to 10,000 families by the end of 2009, partially by expanding the program in to the remaining conservation units. Second, FAS has launched a pilot REDD project to prevent deforestation in the state-level Sustainable Development Reserve of Juma. FAS officials say they expect to prevent deforestation in Juma of about 3,600 square kilometers (or the equivalent of about 210 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions) by 2050. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND PLANS FOR 2009 ¶7. (SBU) At a February 11 meeting with EmbOffs, Ferreira and Director of the state's Center for Climate Change (CECLIMA) Luis Henrique Piva detailed the challenges and highlighted the steps Amazonas had taken and their plans regarding deforestation and climate change. Ferreira explained that the state is unique: almost entirely covered by forests; home to a large number of indigenous groups; and isolated with few infrastructure links to the rest of the country. Of the 584 territories in Brazil designated as exclusive domain of indigenous peoples, 178 are in Amazonas. The challenge of managing these kinds of lands, although technically the responsibility of Brazil's federal indigenous affairs agency (INCRA),often falls on indigenous residents who are eager, but ill-equipped to protect their own forests. ¶8. (SBU) The fundamental challenge, Ferreira underscored, is how to promote growth in the state in a sustainable manner. She opined that the state so far had been successful at striking a balance between development and environmental preservation. Over the last five years, business earnings in the state nearly doubled, while the State's rate of deforestation declined by over 65%. She highlighted the successful development of Manaus as a free industrial zone. The state has adopted measures to support sustainable business methods and to promote forest products. One notable success, she said, is the Green Economic Zone program, which not only promotes small scale "green" economic development, but also demonstrates the benefits of sustainable natural resource management practices to large scale businesses. As an example of this program, a major tire company in Sao Paulo signed a plan to ensure access to natural latex in return for promoting sustainable methods of rubber extraction in the Amazon. ¶9. (SBU) The state's environmental policies are not all based on economic incentives; they also include monitoring and enforcement components. Ferreira explained that the state had recently created an environmental law enforcement intelligence group that feeds information to law enforcement agencies. The information provided by this group has resulted in increased law enforcement activity in Amazonas. It has helped to not only catch individual violators, but also to disrupt larger networks that trade in illegal lumber or animal smuggling. One indicator of success is that the number of fines imposed for violations of the environmental laws in the state quadrupled in one year from 103 in 2007 to 438 in 2008. ¶10. (SBU) Amazonas has ambitious plans in the realm of emissions reductions. Ferreira said that the state plans to complete an inventory of GHG emissions in 2009 and to announce a state-wide target for GHG emissions reductions in time for the December UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen. CHALLENGES AND REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE ¶11. (SBU) Ferreira identified key challenges confronting the State's environmental efforts. She highlighted the need to clarify land title registration, which is an enormous problem throughout the Amazon region. She explained that the lack of reliable and complete land titles and registries impedes the state's ability to encourage sustainable land use. While the GOB has recently issued a Provisional Measure to tackle this issue (see REFTEL B) there is still significant work to be done. The German assistance agency KfW is providing some technical support with land title registration; however, Ferreira said Amazonas wanted additional help from the United States in dealing with land titles. BRASILIA 00000270 003.2 OF 003 ¶12. (SBU) Moreover, Amazonas seeks USG scientific and technical help with inventorying of GHG emissions and carbon levels, as well as assistance with Ecological and Economic Zoning (ZEE) projects. Ferreira noted interest in acquiring help from NASA and NOAA. ZEE projects entail large scale surveys analyzing the suitability of each geographic area for residential, agricultural, economic, and other uses. Ferreira and FAS's Viana both expressed interest in obtaining help from the U.S. Forest Service with land management. COMMENT ¶13. (SBU) Amazonas has shown a remarkable willingness to act on deforestation and climate change issues, even moving ahead of the federal government in some key respects. Its FAS is farther along in implementing conservation actions than the national Amazon Fund (REFTEL C). Amazonas officials from the Governor on down are ready and eager to cooperate with the United States. These state officials could prove to be strong advocates on the issue of quantifiable emissions targets, and could help to sway the national government on this important policy in advance of the COP-15 in Copenhagen. The state's interest in U.S. scientific, technical and financial assistance presents an important opportunity. Cooperation of this nature would benefit USG interests in mitigating climate change, assisting with the sustainable development of poorer regions within Brazil, and continuing to build diverse and strong partnerships with a country that is increasingly influential and critical to USG interests in the world. END COMMENT. KUBISKE