Norway transfers more than R$270 million to the Amazon Fund

Norway confirmed this Wednesday (26) a new donation worth US$50 million to the Amazon Fund. At the current price, the amount is equivalent to around R$275 million. The country had committed to carrying out this transfer in December last year in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, during the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP28).

Confirmation occurred through the formalization of the donation agreement with the Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES). The signing took place during the Forum on Tropical Forests, an event being held in Oslo, the Norwegian capital.

The Amazon Fund aims to provide national and international support for projects for the conservation and sustainable use of forests in the Legal Amazon, a region that encompasses nine states: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins, as well as part of Maranhão. It was created in 2008 by Decree 6,527, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, then in his second term.

The BNDES is responsible for raising and managing resources, and is also responsible for contracting and monitoring the financed initiatives. The financial institution seeks to work in coordination with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. The guidelines for selecting projects are established by a Steering Committee (Cofa), composed of individuals appointed by the federal government and the nine state governments, as well as representatives of civil society organizations.

Since it was created, the Amazon Fund has supported 111 initiatives and disbursed R$1.57 billion. Norway is historically the largest donor, followed by Germany. In 2019, during Jair Bolsonaro’s government, both countries protested after the then Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, made changes to the structure of the Amazon Fund. Later, they announced the suspension of transfers, taking into account the increase in deforestation in the Amazon Forest.

With the election of President Lula in 2022 for his third term and the reversal of changes in the Amazon Fund’s governance structure, both Norway and Germany resumed donations. Since last year, several other countries have also announced transfers, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Japan. In addition to foreign governments, there have been donations made by Petrobras, the last of which occurred in 2018.

According to BNDES, the Norwegian government’s first transfer to the Amazon Fund was made in 2013. “Since then, the country has remained the largest donor, with resources exceeding R$3 billion,” the institution said in a statement. Norway’s new donation was the second formalized in 2024. The first, in February of this year, was made by Japan, which transferred 411 million yen, equivalent to approximately R$14 million. It was the first Asian country to contribute to the Amazon Fund.

Via Agência Brasil