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Jun 18, 2025
In the heart of Brazil, within the Tocantins-Araguaia Basin, lies a region known as the “Arc of Deforestation.” This area, marked by the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, faces numerous environmental challenges.
Since 2017, Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions have been on the rise, driven largely by agriculture, land use changes, and deforestation. Together, they account for 60.3% of the country’s emissions. The agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to extreme climate events: prolonged droughts in 2022 caused the loss of 25.2 million tons of grains, leading to increased food prices and inflation. In 2024, Brazil recorded historical droughts in the Amazon, severely impacting millions of lives, food production, and hydroelectric generation.
To address these challenges, CIF’s governing board endorsed $47 million in CIF concessional financing through the Nature, People, and Climate Program (NPC). Brazil’s Investment Plan will blend this funding with $100 million in existing Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) credit lines and $100 million in World Bank financing to support private sector borrowers in the market for environmental services payments.
The plan, which the Brazilian government has titled the “From the Arc of Deforestation to the Arc of Restoration in the Tocantins-Araguaia Basin,” aims to transform vulnerable areas into resilient and sustainable territories, as well as to engage private financing to achieve impact at scale. The plan also promotes large-scale restoration of degraded areas, fostering sustainable practices and socio-economic benefits.
Brazil’s NPC Investment Plan aims to:
🌲Restore 54,000 hectares of forest,
👩🌾 Generate 21,000 jobs through ecological restoration, and
⏬ Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 7.75 million tCO2eq per year.
Gabriel Lui is the General Coordinator of Strategies and Instruments at the Forest Service in Brazil’s Ministry of Environment. He presented Brazil’s Investment Plan to CIF’s governing board. He says the decades-long partnership between the Brazilian government and CIF through previous projects under the Forest Investment Program (FIP), provided substantial lessons embedded in the new plan’s design. FIP proved highly effective in conservation and restoration efforts in Brazil’s vast Cerrado savannah and is also instructive for efforts in the Amazon.
🎞️Watch Gabriel Lui explain the valuable lessons FIP provided as a forerunner to our NPC program:
What makes this plan unique, says Mr. Lui, is its 100% private sector focus. By partnering with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to blend with CIF’s concessional finance, this plan harnesses the private sector to scale and sustain restoration.
🎞️ Watch Gabriel Lui explain how the Brazlian government aims to engage the private sector:
By promoting green growth powered by regenerative industries, the plan contributes to national development, social welfare, and prosperity. The NPC plan marks the first ever CIF investment in Brazil’s Amazon forest while also continuing CIF’s long-standing support for the Cerrado region, where our Forest Investment Program invested $85 million. The country’s efforts through this investment plan also aligns to key focus areas of COP30, which Brazil will host this year in the coastal city of Belém, known as the “gateway” to the Amazon.
| Learn more about Brazil’s Investment Plan | in brief | in full |
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