Nearly a third of the world’s land area is covered by forests and is home to around 80 percent of the world’s land-based biodiversity. However, since 1990 the world has lost more than 420 million hectares of forest, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , mainly in Africa and South America. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. It stretches over 6.9 million km2 and nine different countries. It is also home to most of world’s biodiversity, sustaining 2.5 million different kinds of insects and 16,000 different tree species. Yet, for the past 50 years 17 percent of the forest has been lost due to deforestation.

With its proposal for the National Budget for 2024, the Danish government has allocated EUR 20 million (USD 21 million) to the Amazon Fund, which works to reduce deforestation, protect biodiversity, improve the living conditions of local populations, and promote sustainable development in Brazil. The fund is managed by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), which is responsible for raising and investing funds, and monitoring the supported projects.

Proposal for 2024