What is the Amazon Fund and why it could end

June was a busy month on Brazil’s diplomatic schedule. President Jair Bolsonaro attended the G20 summit on Osaka, in an attempt to improve his image abroad, while Foreign Affairs officials were in Brussels, bashing out the final negotiations on the historic European Union–Mercosur free-trade deal. As we move into July, however, international talks have not let up, and the new counterparts on the negotiation table are the governments of Norway and Germany, which have threatened to pull their support from the billionaire Amazon Fund.

Set up in 2008, the Amazon Fund is the largest project of its kind to help preserve the Amazon rainforest. Resources are gathered in order to implement a number of conservation initiatives in the region, with the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) managing the funds and distributing them to states, municipalities, NGOs, and universities.

The latest point of contention regarding the fund, however, concerns the Brazilian government’s decision to scrap the two decision-making committees which are responsible...