Vale and BNDES will invest BRL 108 million in socio-environmental actions in the North and Northeast

The mining company Vale and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) announced this Thursday (10) the signing of two protocols of intent for investments of R$ 108 million in socio-environmental initiatives in the North and Northeast of Brazil.

The amount will be allocated to the Credit Guarantee Program for Bioeconomy in the Amazon (Garante Amazônia) and to the Juntos pela Saúde project, initiatives that encourage the participation of private donors, through which the BNDES doubles the value of any other donation.

The mining company is the first partner to join the initiatives and will invest BRL 20 million in the Garante Amazônia and BRL 34 million in Juntos pela Saúde, according to a Vale statement.

The company and the bank claim that the resources for the Guarantor Amazônia will serve as ballast to guarantee financing for sustainable forestry activities in the North region. Among the beneficiaries will be, for example, family farmers, rural family entrepreneurs, aquaculture farmers, fishermen and indigenous peoples.

“The Amazon Guarantee will benefit the development of small producers in the region, who often cannot have easy access to credit,” said Maria Luiza Paiva, executive vice president of Sustainability at Vale, in a statement.

The amounts for Juntos pela Saúde will be used to strengthen primary care in the municipalities surrounding Vale’s operations in Pará and Maranhão, through the expansion of the Vale Foundation’s Social Protection Cycle project.

The announcement took place during an event at the UN Conference on Climate Change, COP 27, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.