After two years of negotiations, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved a contribution of USD 6.2 million to strengthen Amazonian cooperatives working with socio-biodiversity products.

The Amazônia Viva Financing Mechanism is the first to use the GEF’s Non-Grants Instrument. As established, FUNBIO will fully repay the funds over a period of eight years. Amazônia Viva is a blended finance initiative created by Natura, a Brazilian multinational and the leading beauty and personal care company in Latin America, VERT Securitizadora, and FUNBIO, which works to strengthen socio-biodiversity chains in the Amazon by providing access to credit.

One of the mechanism’s instruments is the Agribusiness Receivables Certificate (ARC), managed by VERT, which provides annual credit to socio-biodiversity cooperatives and associations to improve the harvesting of fruits such as açaí, tucumã, and Brazilian nuts. Natura participates as an investor and off-taker, helping to mitigate risks and encourage new partners to join.

Today, the initiative supports 15 extractive communities and, with the new investment, aims to reach 40 associations by the end of the project. The second credit cycle was closed with 100% compliance among participating communities. The 15 associations received R$ 13 million to boost their productive activities. The goal for the next ten years is to benefit more than 10.000 families.

“It’s a complete solution!” says Sandra Amud, from the Association of Agroextractive Producers and Processors of Beruri (Amazonas), who works in Brazilian nut picking: “The mechanism not only finances cooperatives and associations, but also gives us autonomy to manage our own resources,” she celebrates.