Thank you, President Goldfajn, for convening this roundtable, and thank you all for joining. I am glad that we have been able to gather this group here today to discuss how businesses can support sustainable livelihoods and conservation in the Amazon and nature and biodiversity more broadly.
There is a pressing need to halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity in the Amazon and globally. I was heartened to see that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon fell by half in 2023, but there is still much work to be done. This includes maintaining this positive rate of progress while recognizing that other areas important for biodiversity in Brazil, notably the Cerrado, are not seeing the same reversals.
This is so important because the loss of nature and biodiversity presents a significant economic threat. Ecosystem services are vital to enabling sectors including agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism to thrive. The loss of nature is also a key driver of climate change. We cannot reach our climate goals without addressing deforestation. But the need to address the loss of nature and biodiversity is also a significant economic opportunity. Conserving and restoring nature at scale can provide economic benefits for communities, businesses, and countries that far exceed the cost of conservation, with results ranging from higher agricultural output to reduced damage from disasters.
This morning, ministers from the Amazon region, President Goldfajn, and I met to affirm our commitment to protecting nature and biodiversity in the Amazon and to the IDB’s Amazonia Forever program, which is helping support sustainable economic development in the region through financing, project preparation, and collaboration. We are hopeful that this program will incentivize greater private sector investment in the region that supports nature.
There are many other opportunities for the private sector. Increasing productivity in currently available agricultural areas can double agricultural production in Brazil without increasing deforestation, according to some estimates. Businesses investing in their own operations and supply chains can reduce nature-related risks such as water availability. Even the biodiversity of forests brings many potential business opportunities, as we have seen with the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. And credible net-zero transition plans and investments in high-integrity carbon credits can both support nature and make economic sense.
The public sector should be enabling these opportunities. Governments should be working to leverage domestic policy and resources to catalyze local investment, including through policies and programs in agriculture and infrastructure development. We are doing this at home in the United States through the Inflation Reduction Act and other policies.
We are also driving investments in emerging market economies through multilateral development banks and multilateral climate funds. Projects like the Amazon Bioeconomy Fund backed by IDB help financial institutions mobilize investments supporting nature. Additionally, we engage with asset managers globally to increase awareness of blended finance tools facilitating their pursuit of nature-aligned investments with reasonable risk-to-return profiles.
I understand companies represented here today have significant ambition to support a thriving Amazon region while restoring forests and preventing further deforestation. I am confident your commitment can make a difference. Today I look forward to hearing how you approach these issues as we progress toward shared climate goals.
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