Following Germany, Norway Also Suspends Payment to Brazil’s Amazon Fund

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Norway’s climate and environment minister, Ola Elvestuen, announced Thursday the suspension of the transfer of 300 million Norwegian kroner, the equivalent of R$133 million, which would be allocated to the Amazon Fund.

According to Norwegian newspaper “Dagens Næringsliv” (DV), specialized in business news, the government was dissatisfied with the new configuration of the Fund’s committees, now being discussed in Brasília.

Norway and Germany have already declared themselves against the changes.

Created in 2008, the Amazon Fund has received R$3.3 billion (US$825 million) in donations to date, 93 percent of which (R$3.18 billion) came from Norway. The volume of transfers is tied to the rate of deforestation — the higher the advance, the lower the funds obtained.

“Brazil broke the agreement with Norway and Germany since the closing of the board of directors of the Amazon Fund and the Technical Committee. They can’t do this without an agreement with Norway and Germany,” Elvestuen told DV.

The minister indicated that, in recent months, the rates of the devastation of the Amazon have multiplied in relation to the same period of the previous year. According to him, this would show that the Brazilian government “no longer wants to stop” deforestation.

The scientific community, according to Elvestuen, is worried that deforestation will take the biome to a “turning point” — the devastation would be so great that it would affect the formation of rains, causing the destruction of the entire forest.

“This is very serious for the entire climate struggle. Amazonia is the lungs of the world, and we all depend entirely on protecting the rainforest. There are no scenarios for achieving climate targets without the Amazon,” warned Elvestuen.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 11 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the deforestation of tropical forests.

Since the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has criticized the allocation of resources from the Amazon Fund and the alleged “inconsistencies” of its management by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

According to Salles, the fund had become a mechanism for mere distribution of funds, without mechanisms for evaluating results, which would have put at risk the objectives set for its own constitution.

The development bank removed the head of the Environment Department, Daniela Baccas, responsible for administering the donations from the Amazon Fund. However, the Office of the Comptroller General and the governments of Germany and Norway did not support her criticism of Salles.

Globo has contacted the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment and the Norwegian Embassy but has yet to receive a response.

Germany had already announced the cutting of transfers to Brazil but restricted to forest preservation projects that were not linked to the Amazon Fund. The Brazilian government reacted by saying it did not need the money from the European country.