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Thursday, August 31st, 2017

Norway issues $1bn threat to Brazil over rising Amazon destruction

Author:     Damian Carrington
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Thursday 22 June 2017 13.01 EDT
 Link: Norway issues $1bn threat to Brazil over rising Amazon destruction
Stephan:   Norway has become a world leader as a society; a leader because it is a nation that has made wellbeing its first priority. On the basis of social outcome data, they are healthier, have a higher average income, better healthcare, and free or low cost college, and superior eldercare compared to the United States. At the geopolitical level this report describes how such a society acts. It is the individual quotidian choice described in my book The 8 Laws of Change expressed at the societal level.

 

A strip of forest separates a eucalyptus plantation from cleared land, 40 miles north of Macapa, Brazil. Credit: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace

Norway has issued a blunt threat to Brazil that if rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is not reversed, its billion-dollar financial assistance will fall to zero. The leaders of the two nations meet in Oslo on Friday.

The oil-rich Scandinavian nation has provided $1.1bn to Brazil’s Amazon fund since 2008, tied to reductions in the rate of deforestation in the world’s greatest rainforest. The destruction of forests by timber and farming industries is a major contributor to the carbon emissions that drive climate change and Norway views protecting the Amazon as vital for the whole world.

The rate of deforestation in the Amazon fell steadily from 2008 to 2014, an “impressive achievement” which had a “very positive impact” on Brazil and the world, according to Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s environment minister.

But in a forthright letter to Brazil’s environment minister, José Sarney Filho, seen by the Guardian, Helgesen said: “In […]

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2 Comments

  1. will on Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 4:17 am

    While I agree with your views on wellness and shared prosperity it should be pointed out that Norway, over the last 20+ years, has prospered by exploiting North Sea oil fields. That said it seems they have used that money to benefit all.

  2. meestahbahl on Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 7:51 am

    There are always conditions attached to such financial assistance; it’s a true pleasure to see the conditions in this case benefit the entire planet rather than a handful of politicians or global corporations. I’d like to see similar conditions applied to all trade agreements and aid packages.

    To Will’s comment, we can’t change the past, only learn from it and act more wisely in the present. Our own prosperity derived from fossil fuels should not prevent us from stopping their destruction now that we know better.

    Similarly: today, while trade agreements with the US are being renegotiated, would be the perfect time to place conditions on the US while our government risks environmental catastrophe, human rights violations, civil rights reversals, and more. Step up Norway, lead the way with an embargo of the US. I’m American and fully support this.