Norway says resources from the Amazon Fund are being released again to fight deforestation

Norway says resources from the Amazon Fund are being released again to fight deforestation

Norway, the main donor to the Amazon Fund, said the initiative to support forest protection was reactivated now that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office promising to end deforestation.




Norway says resources from the Amazon Fund are being released again to fight deforestation

Norway announced on Monday that the fund, which still has about 3.4 billion reais available for sustainability projects, is back in operation.

The fund had been frozen since August 2019, after then-President Jair Bolsonaro dissolved the board of directors and ended projects to fight deforestation, in violation of the original agreement when the fund was created in 2008.

The Amazon Fund was created by Lula to allow the receipt of international contributions to Brazil’s efforts to curb deforestation. It is results-based and payments are made after deforestation has been reduced. Resources are spent on initiatives that will further reduce deforestation.

Norway initially donated $1.2 billion, with Germany also contributing.

Among his first decisions after taking office Sunday, Lula signed a decree reinstating the Amazon Fund’s board of directors, with broad representation from civil society and other stakeholders.

He also signed decrees reverting Brazil’s strategies to reduce deforestation in the Amazon, which reached a 15-year high under Bolsonaro.

“Brazil’s new president has expressed a clear ambition to end deforestation by 2030. He has re-established strategies to make this happen and appointed ministers with great knowledge and experience in the area,” said the Norwegian minister of climate and environment, Espen Barth Eide, in a statement.

“This is globally significant. The Amazon Fund offers a great opportunity for us to contribute to the international community,” he said.

The UK is considering joining the Amazon Fund, UK Environment Minister Therese Coffey told Reuters in Brasilia.

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Source: Terra

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