Promotion of Best Social and Environmental Management Practices in the Amazon Region Activity   3

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to release a solicitation to support the Amazon region countries in their efforts to reduce the negative impacts on Amazon forests and water resources from large scale infrastructure projects, extractive activities, and climate change.

This activity will contribute to the achievement of the Project Purpose by promoting environment and social best practices. Through the activity, USAID seeks to focus neither on supporting nor inhibiting the extraction of resources or development of infrastructure, but rather to ensure that such activities, where they occur, are done in a way that safeguards natural resources and indigenous rights and cultures in the Amazon region.

The objectives of the Activity are:

1. 1. To reduce biodiversity loss, deforestation, and forest fragmentation in high priority landscapes of the Amazon Region; and

2. 2. To reduce loss of water systems' integrity and quality in the main-stem Amazon River, (the principal trunk of a river or a stream), key tributaries, and associated aquatic areas (swamps, lagoons, marshes, etc.).

The successful achievement of the activities objectives shall use innovative approaches in collaboration with civil society and the public and private sectors to conserve biodiversity and prevent deforestation in the Amazon region. This must involve the identification, adoption, implementation, and monitoring of best management practices of infrastructure and extractive activities in the Amazon region. Engagement with the private sector, key government agencies, and communities (particularly those of vulnerable indigenous and local populations), implementing and affected by these development projects is also essential to reducing the negative impacts of infrastructure and extractive activities on Amazon forests, peoples, and waters.