Brussels, 06/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 5 November, a climate project funded by the European Investment Bank in Peru (Madre de Dios) was granted an award by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for its contribution to tackling climate change.
The project, known as “Tambopata REDD +”, aims to reduce emissions resulting from deforestation and the degradation of forests (REDD+ in the UN jargon). To achieve this, it has encouraged more than 1,000 farmers to practice the sustainable growing of cocoa, preserving the biological diversity of the national reserve of Tambopata and of the National Park of Bahuaja-Sonene. It was awarded the “Game Changing” prize, due to its radical effect on the fight against climate change.
This project received an EIB investment via the climate fund Althelia, an innovative fund set up in 2013 and mainly focusing on funding projects in Latin America and Africa. The EIB is one of the major contributors to this fund, which it has provided with its expertise and more than €15 million so far.
The sustainable cocoa project was one of 16 prizewinners in the UN's '2015 Momentum for Change Lighthouse activities' award ceremony.
The climate fund Althelia and this project stood out due to the innovative nature of the funding: farmers receive funding on condition that they do not contribute to deforestation, rehabilitate 4,000 hectares of degraded land using agri-forestry systems based on cocoa and share the revenue from the sales of the cocoa with the investors. The project also aims to help farmers to obtain 'fair trade' and 'organic farming' certification, to guarantee environmentally-friendly practices and working standards.
The EIB recently decided to increase the share of its loans to support climate investments in the developing countries from 25% to 35% (see EUROPE 11408). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)