Norway, Largest Donor in the Amazon, Criticizes Brazilian Environmental Policy

06/21/2017 - 08h58

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FABIANO MAISONNAVE

SPECIAL ENVOY TO OSLO

The climate in Norway is not at all favorable for President Michel Temer (PMDB Party) who will be arriving in Oslo on Thursday (the 22nd) for a two-day visit.

Dissatisfied with the sharp increase in deforestation during the last two years, the principal international donor for projects in the Amazon will question the Brazilian leader about the direction of the country's environmental policy.

The tone for the reception was evident in a letter sent to the Brazilian government by Norwegian Climate and Environmental Minister, Vidar Helgesen, in which he demonstrated concern with proposals to implement weaker rules regarding environmental licensing and the reduction of areas under conservation.

In a harsh tone rarely used in diplomatic language, the minister declared that the dichotomy of the Brazilian debate between environmental preservation and economic development "appears false".

"Brazil has demonstrated in the last decade that there doesn't need to be a dichotomy between expanding agricultural productivity and protecting forests. And while the pressure for more efficient execution of infrastructure investments in understandable, it does not need to happen at the expense of environmental standards", he wrote.

In an interview with Folha in Oslo, Helgesen said that Brazil has made a lot of progress in combatting deforestation in the last decade, but that there are "worrisome tendencies". "If deforestation decreases, there will be Norwegian funding."

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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