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New Rainforest Projects Halted, Brazil’s Development Bank Says

New Rainforest Projects Halted, Brazil’s Development Bank Says

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s state development bank announced the suspension of new projects for an Amazon rainforest preservation fund until the government concludes negotiations with its donors, in another setback for conservation efforts in the Latin American country.

The 1.8 billion reais ($446 million) Amazon Fund, managed by the state bank known as BNDES, supports projects relating to the prevention, monitoring and fight against deforestation in the rainforest. Its future has been in doubt since Norway and Germany froze their contributions in August amid a surge in fires in the Amazon region.

New Rainforest Projects Halted, Brazil’s Development Bank Says

The fund has temporarily suspended new projects and analysis of those already submitted “until the conclusion of negotiations between the government of Brazil and the governments of Norway and Germany, donors to the fund,” BNDES said in an emailed statement. “Pre-approved projects will continued to receive their scheduled funding.”

Neither the Norwegian nor the Germany embassies in Brasilia responded immediately to a request for comment. Brazil’s environment ministry did not respond immediately either.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Bolsonaro said that the media coverage of recent fires in the Amazon was overblown and insisted on his government’s right to develop the region. Bolsonaro’s environmental policies have drawn criticism from a number of countries, most notably France, which has threatened to veto a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur, the South American customs union.

New Rainforest Projects Halted, Brazil’s Development Bank Says

--With assistance from Samy Adghirni.

To contact the reporters on this story: Simone Iglesias in Brasília at spiglesias@bloomberg.net;Fabiana Batista in Sao Paulo at fbatista6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas, Julia Leite

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