Brazil’s Development Bank to bring BRL 60 mi to coral preservation
This week, Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) launched another permanent call for the BNDES Azul (“Blue BNDES”) program, named after the color of the ocean. This time, efforts aim to preserve coral reefs with a minimum BRL 60 million. A previous branch of the program, unveiled in 2023, was aimed at protecting mangroves, a public call for BRL 50 million involving eight mangrove areas along the coast.
In practice, the coral preservation initiative means that the bank will invest BRL 30 million in coral monitoring, preservation, and repair projects, and make BRL 30 million available for plans to be sponsored by foundations linked to private companies, international organizations, and state governments.
While announcing the call, BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante stressed the importance of the ecosystem for the environment and the economy, including tourism.
“Corals are like a condominium of marine life. One in four life forms in the oceans at some point goes through corals, and they are being heavily assaulted and threatened. We need to react to this,” he declared.
The bank presented data on the economic effects of preserving coral reefs. According to the study Oceano sem Mistérios (Ocean without Mysteries), carried out by the Grupo Boticário Foundation, for every square kilometer of reef preserved, some BRL 940 million is saved in investment to protect the coast and BRL 62 million is generated in tourism. In Brazil, this represents BRL 7 billion from coral tourism.
Coral bleaching
Corals are marine invertebrates capable of feeding themselves. But a large part of their diet is obtained through symbiosis—a mutually beneficial relationship—with algae. Grouped together, coral species form reefs.
Researchers have drawn attention to the global phenomenon of coral bleaching, partly caused by rising temperatures in the ocean, which is damaging the health of the ecosystem.
National Secretary for Climate Change at the Ministry of the Environment Ana Prates pointed out that the world is experiencing the fourth largest bleaching event ever recorded.
“Our waters are really warm, and the corals are dying. Better late than never, we must take protective action. There’s still time.” She also noted that Brazil has the only coral reefs in the South Atlantic.
Projects
The call will be open until June 30. Until then, the bank will receive proposals to improve water quality in the basins, combat predatory fishing by generating alternative income, organize community tourism around coral reefs, and combat exotic species that degrade coral reefs, in addition to mapping, monitoring, maintaining, and restoring coral reefs.
Proposals must cover an area of 3 thousand kilometers of coastline, from Espírito Santo to Maranhão—the region with the highest concentration of corals in Brazil. The projects should be directed at shallow corals (the most conspicuous type, which attracts tourists to the beaches) between Bahia and Ceará, and at the country’s two major coral banks, in the Manuel Luís Marine State Park, in Maranhão, and in Abrolhos, in Bahia and Espírito Santo.
The minimum amount for each project is BRL 5 million, half of which should come from the development bank and half from other proponents. Project executors must be private nonprofits, acting as a network or individually. They must have experience in implementing and operating similar projects.
