Norway allocates additional $50 mi to Amazon Fund

Norway confirmed on Wednesday (Jun. 26) an additional $50 million donation to the Amazon Fund, equivalent to approximately BRL 275 million at the current exchange rate. The commitment was made in December last year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP28).

This was validated through the formalization of the donation agreement with the Brazilian Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES), signed during the Forum on Tropical Forests in Oslo, the capital of Norway, earlier this month.

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 Brazilian states: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins, and part of Maranhão. Established in 2008 by Decree 6.527, it was signed during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's second term.

BNDES oversees the raising and management of funds, as well as the contracting and monitoring of financed initiatives. The financial institution aims to coordinate closely with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. Project selection guidelines are established by a Steering Committee (Cofa), comprising nominees from the federal government, the nine state governments, and representatives from civil society organizations.

Since its creation, the Amazon Fund has supported 111 initiatives and disbursed BRL 1.57 billion. Norway has historically been the largest donor, followed by Germany. In 2019, during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, both countries protested after the then Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, made structural changes to the Amazon Fund. They subsequently announced the suspension of transfers in response to the escalating deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Since President Lula's reelection in 2022 for his third term and the restoration of the Amazon Fund's governance structure, both Norway and Germany have resumed donations. Since last year, several other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Japan, have also pledged donations. In addition to foreign governments, Brazil’s oil and gas company Petrobras has made donations, with the most recent occurring in 2018.

According to BNDES, the Norwegian government made its first transfer to the Amazon Fund in 2013. "Since then, Norway has consistently been the largest donor, contributing over BRL 3 billion," the institution stated.

Norway's recent donation marks the second formalized contribution to the Amazon Fund in 2024. The first, in February of this year, came from Japan, which transferred 411 million yen, equivalent to approximately BRL 14 million. Japan was the first Asian country to contribute to the Amazon Fund.