Brazil
Germany wants to release Lula’s rainforest money after victory
Germany wants to release money for the Amazon again after Bolsonaro lost the presidential election. photo
© Dieh Sacramento/dpa
Under Bolsonaro, Amazon cooperation with Brazil was paralyzing. Above all, he saw untapped economic potential in the rainforest. After his defeat, funds should now flow again.
After the re-election of the former left-wing head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as President of Brazil, the federal government wants to release funding for the protection of the rainforest. The funds from the “Amazon Fund” are currently on hold, but should be made available again quickly, said State Secretary in the Development Ministry, Jochen Flasbarth, on Tuesday in Berlin.
Norway also wants to resume rainforest cooperation – the government in Oslo wants to get in touch with Lula’s transition team, as Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide told the NTB news agency. Significant sums are frozen in one account, which can be paid out quickly.
Disagreements under Bolsonaro paralyzed the process
The so-called “Amazon Fund” for forest and climate protection was paralyzed because of disagreements about the use of the money under the government of the voted right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. For Bolsonaro, the Amazon region is above all untapped economic potential. He wanted to develop more land for agriculture, mining and energy production and dismissed proposals to protect the rainforest as interference.
The “Amazon Fund” is financed by Germany and Norway. The funds from this are intended to benefit the protection of nature in the Brazilian Amazon region and the fight against deforestation. According to the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the fund was set up by the Brazilian government in 2008. The manager is therefore the Brazilian development bank BNDES.