‎Brazil News

Social inclusion and environmental protection are united in the actions of Caixa Econômica Federal. To this end, the public bank created the Caixa Florestas program, which allocates R$ 150 million per year for the recovery and preservation of forests, in addition to supporting vulnerable communities. The program also foresees the planting of 10 million tree seedlings in the next five years, the recovery of degraded areas and actions to value traditional communities. With this, approximately 3.5 million hectares will be protected.

 

The program was created in May this year and the details were presented this Wednesday (3), by videoconference, by the president of Caixa, Pedro Guimarães, at an event at the Brazilian stand of the United Nations Confederation on Climate Change (COP26). The event takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, until November 12th.

 

Tree seedlings will be planted in all biomes. The sources of the São Francisco River, which cuts through much of the northeast, are already receiving the new trees.

 

Credit line

Among the measures to strengthen the links between inclusion and environmental protection, the public bank also launched a line of microcredit for 100 million Brazilians who live in a vulnerable situation. When talking about Caixa's role in Brazil's commitments to Social and Environmental Responsibility, the institution's president highlighted that the bank is the main financier of the low-income population. “We have funding for hundreds of thousands of homes in the middle of the forest and other biomes for Indians and quilombola communities. This is very important because they would not have the income for this financing and the houses we found are totally degraded”, said Pedro Guimarães.

 

He also recalled that Caixa finances around six million homes in the country, of which only 200,000 have solar energy collection equipment. “We launched a very strong program to put [solar energy] into the other 5.8 million. From now on, there is a reduction in the interest rate for those who want to finance”, he explained.

 

“Some think that Brazil is not doing its job. Here is a good example. Brazil is in the right direction, carrying out an activity to preserve, encourage and train all regions and Caixa is a fine example of this”, said Environment Minister Joaquim Leite, who mediated the event.

 

boat agencies

Caixa takes citizenship to the riverside population of 27 cities in Pará and Amazonas through two boats equipped as bank branches. The service through these vessels that navigate the Ilha do Marajó and the Amazon River reaches 825 thousand people. During the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus, these agencies were essential to bring benefits such as Emergency Relief to these people. “Almost one million people only have a relationship with the government through this boat-agency”, highlighted the president of Caixa, Pedro Guimarães. In partnership with the Navy and the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, these boats have space for women victims of violence to report their aggressors.

 

Category

Social assistance