Reuters
Brazil must demonstrate it can reduce the ongoing deforestation in the Amazon before Norway will resume payments in support of preserving the world's largest rainforest, the Norwegian environment minister told Reuters. Norway worked closely with Brazil to protect the vulnerable ecosystem between 2008 and 2018, paying $1.2 billion into the Amazon Fund, which pays Brazil to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation. But rainforest destruction has surged since Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, weakening enforcement and calling for development of the Amazon, and also changing the fund's governance.