As Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has resumed office and vowed to halt deforestation, Norway which is the major donor to the Amazon Fund, has said that the initiative for backing forest protection had been re-activated.
“Brazil’s new President has signalled a clear ambition to stop deforestation by 2030. He has reinstated strategies to make this happen, and appointed ministers with substantial knowledge and expertise in the area,” Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide said in a statement announcing the revival of the fund which is aimed at fighting the removal of vegetation in the Amazon.
The fund which still holds about 3.4 billion reais ($620 million) has been frozen since August 2019, when former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro abolished its governing board and action plans.
Recall that Lula had set up the fund in 2008 when he was the first president of Brazil, to receive international contributions to the country’s efforts to stop deforestation. It receives payments only after deforestation is reduced; the funds are then spent on more such initiatives.
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Norway initially donated $1.2 billion, with Germany also contributing.
Lula signed a decree reinstating the governing board of the Amazon Fund, with broad representation from civil society and other stakeholders in what was among his first decisions after taking office for a new presidential term on Sunday,
He also signed decrees re-establishing Brazil’s strategies to reduce Amazon deforestation, the rate of which surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro. Furthermore, Lula revoked policies that had diluted environmental protection, including a measure that encouraged mining on protected indigenous lands.
Re-establishment of the fund “is globally significant,” Barth Eide said. “The Amazon Fund gives the international community a great opportunity to contribute.”
Story was adapted from US News.
