U.S. and Brazil launch Environmental Dialogue
The dialogue covers important areas of collaboration to protect and preserve the environment
Brasilia, November 10, 2020: The U.S. Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, USAID, and, virtually, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and representatives of the USFWS, USFS, NOAA, and the Brazilian secretary for National Sovereignty and Citizenship Ambassador Marzano, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Environment Eduardo Novaes, and GoB representatives launched the U.S.-Brazil Environmental Framework Dialogue on Tuesday, November 10. Minister of External Relations, Ernesto Araujo, opened the Dialogue. The Dialogue aims to streamline several areas of collaboration, such as fire prevention and management, sustainable forest economies, protecting the urban environment, combating conservation crimes, preventing and responding to environmental disasters, and planning and management of public lands of conservation and tourism.
U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Todd Chapman said regarding today’s announcement: “This Dialogue reinforces the productive history of collaboration on environmental issues between Brazil and the U.S. This important framework will strengthen our already strong partnership and open the door for new opportunities.”
Highlights of the strong U.S.-Brazil environmental partnership include:
- USAID is supporting a US$ 500,000 fire management program with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for the 2020 fire season to help build the Brazilian Environment Ministry’s (MMA) capacity to identify fire origin, and manage, prevent, and communicate fire causes
- USAID guaranteed financing for the Althelia Biodiversity Fund, which plans to raise US$100 million in mostly private investment for economic activities to conserve biodiversity in the Amazon. This will dramatically improve Amazon business investment opportunities.
- Since 2019, the U.S. Embassy USFWS Attaché has worked with Brazilian government authorities to seize multiple containers of endangered hardwoods illegally exported from Brazil. We aim to develop an Interagency U.S.-Brazil Wildlife Trafficking Task Force and expand our joint transnational investigations.
The U.S. and Brazil share similar environmental challenges and our continued collaboration will protect and conserve the environment while promoting the growth of both countries’ economies. This Dialogue demonstrates the commitment of the U.S. and Brazil to further innovation in preserving the environment and creating opportunities for the future.
The full list of participants:
United States:
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Brazil:
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For more information on the U.S.-Brazil Environmental Framework Dialogue, please visit the website: https://br.usembassy.gov/fact-sheet-u-s-brazil-environmental-framework-dialogue/
For the full text of the Joint Statement on the U.S.-Brazil Environmental Framework Dialogue, please visit the website:https://br.usembassy.gov/joint-statement-on-the-u-s-brazil-environmental-framework-dialogue/
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For further information on this Press Release, please contact the U.S. Embassy Press Office in Brasília at BrasiliaEMBEUA@state.gov or on (+55 61) 3312 – 7367 / 7350 / 7364. Follow us on Twitter and Flickr.
