Brazil sees reduced payments from Norway following increased deforestation in the Amazon

rain forest fund bio fuel climate gasRainforest. Photo:Pixabay

Norway’s rainforest payment to Brazil is sharply reduced this year compared with last year. Brazil is paid NOK 350 million (~ USD 42 million) based on the deforestation rate in the Amazon in 2016.

 

The reduction is due to increased deforestation and tighter requirements for the results that Brazil must deliver in order to get paid. –This shows that the results based system is working, says Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen.

– When deforestation goes up, payments go down. –I am however pleased to notice that initial deforestation figures for 2017 show a reduction. If confirmed, this would lead to increased payments next year, says the minister.

Reduced deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon in the last decade has been one of the world’s most important measures to mitigate climate change. Tropical rainforests bind a lot of carbon, and when the forests disappear, the carbon enters the atmosphere as the greenhouse gas CO2.

 

Source: government.no / Norway Today