The World Bank will offer member countries hit by natural disasters and other crises access to emergency funds from existing loan programmes, as part of the bank's Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit. For example, a country with $3 billion undisbursed from a $5 billion loan portfolio could receive instant access to $300 million in liquidity to tackle a natural disaster, Anna Bjerde, World Bank Managing Director for Operations told Reuters. Donations worth $640 million were pledged to Brazil's Amazon Fund for sustainable rainforests by developed nations in 2023, according to Tereza Campello, Environmental Director of fund manager the Brazilian Development Bank. The bulk of these funds have been committed by the Biden Administration over five years, which still requires the approval of US Congress. Other leading new donors include the UK, Denmark and the European Union. Deforestation rates have fallen to their lowest level since 2018. In 2023, 5,153 square kilometres (1,989.6...
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