U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Saturday the launch of an initiative by the United States and several countries in the Amazon region to combat illegal activities that contribute to the destruction of the largest rainforest on the planet.
The Amazon Region Initiative against the Illegal Economy “will support efforts to prevent environmental crimes, including those that cause devastation in the Amazon,” she said from Belem, in northern Brazil, during a meeting with ministers from countries in the region at an event of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The project will involve the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
“Worldwide, environmental crimes are estimated to generate profits of several million dollars each year and this involves the use and abuse of the American financial system,” Mr.me Yellen, according to this text.
“Criminal organizations and individuals are motivated by potential economic gains from the illegal extraction of plants, minerals and forest life. These crimes threaten the ecological balance of the Amazon rainforest, the well-being of local populations and the economies of countries,” the official added.
The collaboration will include a broad exchange of information and training organized by the United States to trace the circuits of dirty money and combat money laundering, the statement also explains.
The Amazon, which covers about 40% of South America, is suffering deforestation linked to agriculture, logging and mining, as well as urban expansion.
Belem, capital of the state of Para at the gateway to the Amazon, will host the COP30 climate summit in 2025.
This week, the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Brazilian Ilan Goldfajn, said there was “political will” to advance the protection of the Amazon. In one year, the resources for projects in the Amazon have quadrupled, from 1 to 4.2 billion dollars, he stressed.
On Saturday, this multilateral institution, a major international donor in Latin America, marked the first year of its “Amazonia Sempre” program (Amazonia always, in Portuguese).