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| WORLD NEWS - WORLD NEWS - Norway fund |
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 17 Sept Norway pledges $1bn to protect Amazon forest
Norway has pledged $1bn (£500m) to a new international fund to help Brazil protect the Amazon rainforest.
The donation is the first to the fund which Brazil hopes will raise $21bn to protect Amazon nature reserves. The money will be released over seven years to promote alternatives to forest-clearing for people living in the Amazon, and support conservation and sustainable development.
Announcing the donation, Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg (pictured) said: "Efforts against deforestation may give us the largest, quickest and cheapest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Brazilian efforts against deforestation are therefore of vital importance if we shall succeed in our campaign against global warming."
Brazil aims to raise $21bn through foreign donors by 2021, although President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has insisted that the Amazon's preservation is Brazil's responsibility.
The country is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, with three-quarters of its total coming from the burning of trees in the Amazon. Japan, Sweden, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland are said to be considering donating to the fund, which was launched last month.
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