BELÉM, Brazil (CMC) – Guyana and Suriname are among seven  Amazon countries that have launched a new initiative aimed mobilising more than US$1 billion to accelerate investments in water security, clean energy, and resilient urban infrastructure, with a multisectoral and territorial approach.

Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are the other countries involved in the  Amazonia Forever Facility for Cities and Resilient Infrastructure alliance that was launched here on Tuesday.

The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB) said that the initiative, led by the Amazonia Network of Ministers of Finance and Planning, was formalised through a joint declaration signed by member states.

It is supported by the IDB Group, within the framework of its flagship Amazonia Forever  programme, and is backed by multilateral climate funds, bilateral donors, and local leaders.

The new facility will leverage innovative financial mechanisms, including blended financing, performance-based concessionality schemes, mechanisms for mitigating exchange-rate risk, and credit-substitution guarantees, while providing technical assistance for infrastructure projects in urban and peri-urban areas.

Brazil’s Planning and Budget Minister Simone Tebet formalised the launch at COP30 in her capacity as chair of the Amazonia Network of Ministers of Finance and Planning.

“This important tool will enable us to take action not only on forest and water resources, but also on urban challenges, since cities are home to the vast majority of the Amazonian population. In this way, we are strategically complementing efforts on these two fronts of the region’s environmental challenges,” she said.

“This facility is a practical example of what Amazonia Forever is all about; providing people with livelihoods and jobs in the region’s cities is the best way to preserve the forest,” said IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn. “And building resilient infrastructure helps protect around 60 million people who call the Amazon home.”

More than 70 per cent of the population of the Amazon region, or Amazonia, lives in cities and peri-urban areas, which face gaps in water, sanitation, adequate solid-waste management, energy, mobility, and risk management for extreme events.

Addressing these challenges is essential not only for improving people’s quality of life, but also to protect forests, according to a recent IDB study prepared by more than 60 experts.

The Amazonia Forever Facility comes with new support from international partners to promote climate-resilient infrastructure, clean energy, connectivity, and sustainable urbanisation in the Amazon region. Among them:

Denmark, Norway, and Sweden committed to work toward signing a guarantee which will enable the IDB to increase its lending capacity for clean-energy projects within the Amazonia Forever and América en el Centro programmes by US$800 million.

The IDB’s Water Security and Climate Resilience Program in Amazonia, in partnership with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), will deploy US$162 million in concessional financing, technical assistance, and pre-investment resources for resilient infrastructure projects in drinking water, sanitation, drainage, and solid-waste management, as well as improvements to early-warning systems and strengthened cross-border cooperation.

The Clean Energy Access Accelerator in the Amazon, supported by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), will provide US$215 million in concessional resources and grants to expand universal access to clean energy and clean cooking solutions, and promote the adoption of emerging technologies.

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) contributed six  million euros to the IDB’s Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on the Amazon.