VZCZCXRO5051
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBR #0270/01 0691154
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101154Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3724
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3660
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7376
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9187
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

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