The first to announce the resumption of aid was Norway, on Monday, after confirming the return to government of the PT leader who headed the Brazilian Executive Power between 2003 and 2011.
The Norwegian Minister for the Environment, Espen Barth Eide, pointed out that “As for Lula, we have seen that during the electoral campaign he emphasized the preservation of the Amazon forest and the protection of the indigenous populations of the Amazon.”
“That’s why we look forward to contacting your teams as soon as possible, to prepare for the resumption of collaboration historically positive relationship between Brazil and Norway,” he added.
The Scandinavian country, the main provider of funds for the protection of the Amazon rainforest, had suspended its aid to Brazil in 2019, the year that Bolsonaro became president.
Germany also spoke in the same sensein the words of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Development, Jochen Flasbarth, who said that the money from the “Amazon Fund” is currently suspended but should be made available again quickly.
Norway, together with Germany, although to a lesser extent, is the largest contributor to the Amazon Rainforest Conservation Fund, considered by experts to be one of the main instruments – if not the main one – against deforestation in the Amazon.
Given the will expressed by Bolsonaro when he came to power to exploit the Amazon, Oslo and Berlin had frozen payments in 2019.
Since the creation of the fund in 2008, the Scandinavian country has contributed 1.2 billion dollars to the fund, which works according to the “money against forests” principle, that is, annual aid fluctuates depending on the results obtained in the fight against deforestation. The manager of said fund is the Brazilian development bank BNDES.
Under the presidency of the far-right leader, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon accelerated by 70%, a scandalous figure according to Barth Eide, who said that his country entered into a “head-on confrontation” with Bolsonaro over this issue.
According to the minister, 5 billion Norwegian kroner (about 482 million dollars) are waiting to be used in the Amazon rainforest preservation fund.
Source: Ambito
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