Monitoring Desk
NORWAY: Norway, a major donor to the Amazon Fund, has said that the initiative for backing forest protection had been reactivated now as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was returned to office and vowed to halt deforestation.
Norway donated 1.2bn dollars in fund
New President of Brazil has signaled the clear ambition to stop deforestation by 2030, Norwegian Barth Eide, Minister of Climate and Environment said in a statement announcing the revival of the aid, which has aimed at fighting removal of vegetation in the Amazon. Barth Eide said that He has reinstated strategy to make this happen, and appointed a minister with substantial knowledge or expertise in the place. The fund still holds about $620 million.
It has been frozen in August 2019, when former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro eliminated its governing board and action plans. In 2008 in an earlier term as a president, Lula set up the aid to receive global contributions to Brazil’s efforts to stop deforestation. It receives payments only after deforestation is reduced; the funds are then spent on more such initiatives. Norway has donated $1.2 billion with Germany also contributing.
