IICA Director General visits Peru for launch of environmental programs for Andean Region

Lima, Peru, March 4, 2011 (IICA).Two programs funded by the Finnish cooperation agency – the Sustainable Forest Management Programme in the Andean Region and the Energy and Environment Partnership in the Andean Region – were launched on Monday, March 7, in Lima. The Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Víctor M. Villalobos, took part in the activity.

Other senior officials in attendance were the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, Paavo Väyrynen; the Minister for the Environment of Peru, Antonio Brack; the Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry of Finland, Pertti Torstila; ambassadors of a number of countries; and deputy ministers and delegates from the ministries of agriculture, environment and energy of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

Both programs will be carried out in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. They consist of competitive funds designed to ensure that forests make a bigger contribution to the development of the Andean region, and to increase the use of renewable energies and clean technologies. The programs will finance feasibility studies, pilot projects and other important activities.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs is providing all the financing (around 10 million Euros in total). IICA was chosen as the executing unit at the regional level, while each country will have a national executing unit.

A wide variety of actors are eligible to apply for funding under the sustainable forest management program, including private sector entities (with non-profit projects), non-governmental organizations, and public institutions interested in the sustainable management of forest resources – such as avoided deforestation and payment for environmental services – and in forest plantations as viable systems for carbon sequestration.

The Energy and Environment Partnership will also support innovative and demonstration initiatives related to renewable energies, energy efficiency and environmental protection.

In addition to the launch of the programs, an exhibition was organized to enable representatives of Finnish public and academic institutions to present their experiences. Finnish companies also took part that specialize in biomass and energy efficiency and are interested in working in the Andean region. There was also a display of Finnish wood design.

During his visit to Lima, IICA’s Director General met with Minister Brack; the Minister of Agriculture, Rafael Quevedo; the Secretary General of CAN, Adalid Contreras; the President of the Fundación Natura Regional, Rosalía Arteaga; the Director of the International Potato Center, Pamela Anderson; the Head of the INIA, César Paredes; and the Director of CENTRUM, Fernando D´Alessio. He also took part in the International Seminar “Agriculture, Mining and Rural Territories – indispensable synergy.”

For more information, contact 
roberto.gonzalez@iica.int