VZCZCXRO4523
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #0870/01 1241850
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041850Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5286
INFO RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 3978
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 5469
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RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 1997
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000870 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/ENV JMATUSZAK 
STATE PLS PASS TO USAID LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, AND PPC/ENV 
STATE PLS PASS TO NSF/INTL FOR HSTOLBERG 
TREASURY FOR USED IBRD AND IDB AND INTL/MDB 
USDA TO FOREST SERVICE FOR MZWEEDE 
USDA TO ARS/INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH FOR G FLANLEY 
INTERIOR TO DIR INT AFFAIRS FOR KWASHBURN 
INTERIOR TO FWS FOR TRILEY 
INTERIOR PASS TO USGS/INTERNATIONAL/JWEAVER 
JUSTICE TO ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES FOR JWEBB 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL/HILL-MACON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAGR EAID ECON SOCI BR
SUBJECT: GEF FUNDING CONCERNS AND THE CERRADO 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  During the Meeting of the Parties of the Commission on 
Sustainable Development in Curitiba in March, Marina Silva, Brazil's 
Minister for the Environment, announced the intention of the 
Government of Brazil to increase legal protection of the Cerrado 
ecosystem.  Part of this new focus on the Cerrado will involve the 
creation of the Sustainable Cerrado Initiative which will use GEF 
funding to improve the sustainable development of this biome. 
Recent changes to the GEF, including the new Resource Allocation 
Framework and the level of USG funding for the fourth replenishment, 
have created concerns within the GOB over whether this initiative 
will receive enough funding to remain viable.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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The Cerrado 
----------- 
 
¶2.  Currently considered the richest savannah in the world in terms 
of biodiversity, the Brazilian Cerrado combines over 10,000 plant 
species and 1,575 animal species.  This unique ecosystem covers an 
area of two million square kilometers, a quarter of the Brazilian 
national territory.  It occupies the whole of central Brazil and 
extends through thirteen Brazilian states and the Federal District. 
Threatened by the loosely regulated advance of the agricultural 
frontier (primarily for soy bean and sugar cane production), which 
has already advanced over more than fifty percent of the region, 
only two percent of the Cerrado is protected in conservation units 
such as national parks and biological reserves.  Beyond the 
devastation of its abundant biodiversity, the destruction of the 
Cerrado endangers a region that feeds the aquifers of the principal 
river basins of Brazil. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
The National Commission for the Cerrado 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Impressed by the speed at which the landscape of the Cerrado is 
being converted into pasture and farmland - 30,000 square kilometers 
per year - Brazilian civil society and the government are debating 
conservation strategies for the biome.  These conversations resulted 
in the creation of a National Commission for the Sustainable Cerrado 
Program (Comissao Nacional do Programa Cerrado Sustentavel - 
CONACER).  CONACER will be presided over by Joao Paulo Capobianco, 
head of the Biodiversity and Forests Secretariat of the Ministry of 
the Environment (MMA).  In addition, CONACER will be composed of 26 
members from a wide array of government, academic, and civil society 
representatives.  The Commission will be the focal point for 
coordinating public policies related to conserving the Cerrado.  One 
of the top priorities of CONACER is to convince the Brazilian 
parliament to approve a constitutional amendment proposal (PEC) to 
include the Cerrado as a National Heritage Site.  Brazil's 1988 
Constitution only includes the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and the 
Pantanal as areas of national interest. 
 
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GEF Projects in the Cerrado 
 
BRASILIA 00000870  002 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  The GOB submitted the GEF Sustainable Cerrado Initiative project 
which is a joint effort by the Government of Brazil, MMA, States of 
Goias, Tocantins, Federal District and EMBRAPA (Agricultural 
Research Agency) to support the conservation and sustainable 
development of the Cerrado biome in central Brazil. The GOB project 
proposal requested US$ 27 million although only US$ 13 million was 
approved. 
¶5.  The GEF Sustainable Cerrado Initiative project would support the 
strategy and priorities established by the multi-stakeholder 
CONACER- Cerrado Biome Working Group and help establish a biome-wide 
coordinated program of action to protect and use in a sustainable 
manner the remaining Cerrado.  According to the Cerrado Directory of 
the Ministry of Environment, this GEF project is still under 
negotiation despite the fact that they received positive indications 
that the project was approved by the GEF council. They are still 
waiting for the financial resource guarantee. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
The GEF Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The GOB Ministry of Planning and Budget which coordinates the 
GEF procedure affirmed that the new RAF in particular is helpful and 
will force governments to focus and prioritize the projects creating 
more holistic country strategies.  However, the transition in 
implementation of the RAF is creating concerns because the GOB 
doesn't know which current projects have money from GEF 3 and which 
are to be put off to GEF 4.  The biggest concern is that if the U.S. 
funding levels decrease for GEF 4, there will be fewer resources to 
promote GOB GEF projects.  In addition, due to the changes in the 
GEF brought on due to the RAF, the GOB is trying to find out what a 
reasonable expectation of funding for this and future projects could 
be, given the desire by the GEF to allocate a base level of funding 
for each country. 
¶7.  Having answers to these questions will enable the GOB to 
allocate more efficiently the resources that are or will be provided 
to it. In addition, the GOB will be creating a new vetting and 
review procedure for GEF proposals as the new RAF will force the GOB 
to focus more closely on national priorities rather than those of 
any particular stakeholders.  Mr. Carlos Lampert, General 
Coordinator for International Affairs of the Ministry of Planning 
and Budget also thought that it might be instructive for the GEF to 
coordinate and host a regional meeting for countries to present and 
share their strategies for dealing with the new RAF procedures. 
According to Mr. Lampert, while Brazil has a strong interagency 
process for dealing with GEF proposals and coordinating the national 
strategy, many other countries in the region still lack the 
institutional ability to do this and thus could find themselves in a 
position of losing GEF funding through the new RAF. 
 
CHICOLA