A Norway-backed fund to protect Brazil’s Amazon rainforest will restart “very soon after the 1st of January”, Norway’s environment minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters on Thursday.

The so-called Amazon Fund, which contains $542 million for rainforest protection, had been frozen by current president Jair Bolsonaro.

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Eide said it was expected to resume soon after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assumes the Brazilian presidency. Eide met with Lula earlier on Thursday.

Norway is the largest contributor to the fund.

Source: Reuters