A wide range of sustainability, health and environmental programs in the Amazon Rainforest are at stake after the U.S. government announced a 90-day pause on all foreign aid funding, including from USAID, during President Donald Trump’s first day in office. The move prompted consternation among scientists and conservationists, who told Mongabay they were concerned about the effects on biodiversity, Indigenous livelihoods and security in the region. They said the temporary funding freeze will impact community-led conservation initiatives and programs to halt illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes. However, others also say USAID funding has led to problems in communities and that the potential impacts of the pause highlight the dangers of depending on foreign aid. In some cases, the impacts are already being felt. Some territorial monitoring programs, which fund monitoring actions to protect Indigenous territories, have been suspended. Ivaneide “Neidinha” Bandeira Cardozo, a member of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Rondônia state and coordinator of the Kanindé Ethnoenvironmental Defense Association, told Mongabay the U.S. has stopped funding a territorial monitoring program that helps reduce the number of invasions and illegal deforestation in several Indigenous lands in the region. “We had to suspend our monitoring activities,” she said, “but the problem is that we are under enormous pressure from land grabbers and loggers, so it is now more difficult to contain the invasions. The result will be more deforestation, and our lives will be more threatened.” Heat spots in areas with Prodes warnings (2017-2019). Area next to the borders of…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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