The Amazon Fund, established by President Lula through the Decree No.  6,527, will have its resources managed by the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES).  The state bank will raise public and private resources from voluntary donations, wither domestic or foreign, to invest in conservation shares, which will monitor and combat deforestation.  The expectation of the Ministry of Environment is that the fund grab of $ 1 billion reais is already in its first year.  The first donation is already known: U.S. $ 100 million of the Norwegian government.  Norway has pledged to donate an equal value each year for the next five years, for the preservation of the Amazon region.

No problem for now, right?  Wrong.  At the beginning of the month of July the BNDES reported an increase of 402% of approvals of its investment in the North.  However, this percentage does not reflect increased support by the financial sector for socio-development.  The resources are still being targeted mainly by mining projects production of energy.  Within the Amazon, just within May 2007 to April this year, U.S. $ 9 billion reais were invested for the construction of hydroelectric projects and infrastructure, and just U.S. $ 500 mi relate to social inclusion.

Large companies have not been left out of sharing a piece of the cake.  In this half, the bank approved a credit line of $ 7.2 billion reais through Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, which last year received more than $ 3 billion.  Of these, 1.2 bi were allocated to the area of basic materials within the region.

In this query, Alcoa Aluminum and MMX Mining were the main recipients of money.  In the industrial sector, funding the refrigerators in Mato Grosso reached more than $ 735 million.  That being the state with the most deforestation we can assume that the investment in this region will further increase the area of cut down forests.

The most serious factor, however, is that in granting these loans, there is no effective environmental impact assessment for such investments.  These facts show that the bank of the federal government follows the line adopted by the executive: the pure economic exploitation of the region.  Investing in large companies that have essentially turned their production for export in order to further reinforce the view that Brazil - and the Amazon region, in the case - is a large warehouse to the world, and being a larfe supplier of natural resources which are needed in developed countries.

This is the bank that has been responsible for managing the Amazon Fund, to act in the management of resources for forests and protected areas, environmental control and surveillance, forest management, appropriate land use, land regularization and biodiversity conservation.  It is noticeable that none of these issues have been a serious topic of pre-occupation by the government and the bank in recent times.

If all these promises are fulfilled and the Fund worked perfectly Amazon would not be in need of a miracle.  What is not surprising is the inconsistency of a bank that manages resources from foreign donations to reduce the deforestation while he himself uses its resources, often from Brazilian workers (in the case of FAT) to clear forested area.

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