Relationship dossier
Brazil
Norway
Relationship assessment
Rainforest cooperation through the Amazon Fund has anchored a substantial partnership, despite disputes over the fund’s governance.
Brazil toward Norway
+35Brazil established the Amazon Fund in 2008 and accepted Norway’s major contributions to support forest conservation. In 2019, Brazil changed the fund’s governance arrangements, prompting Norway to suspend contributions; Brazil restored governance arrangements in 2023, enabling funding to resume.
Norway toward Brazil
+40Norway became the principal international contributor to Brazil’s Amazon Fund, supporting rainforest conservation. Norway suspended contributions in 2019 in response to changes in the fund’s governance and resumed funding after governance arrangements were restored in 2023.
Overall relationship
+40The Amazon Fund provides a durable basis for bilateral cooperation on rainforest protection, with Norway supplying major financial support and Brazil administering the initiative. Disagreement over the fund’s governance interrupted contributions in 2019, but the restoration of governance arrangements and resumption of funding in 2023 indicate that the cooperative framework endured.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Brazil and Norway have built substantial cooperation around rainforest protection through the Amazon Fund, which Brazil created in 2008 with Norway as its principal international contributor. The partnership has also faced friction: Norway suspended contributions in 2019 after Brazil changed the fund’s governance, and funding resumed following the restoration of its governance arrangements in 2023.
Areas of tension
- Norway suspended Amazon Fund contributions in 2019 after Brazil changed the fund’s governance arrangements.
Key developments
Brazil established the Amazon Fund, with Norway as a major international contributor to rainforest conservation.
Norway suspended contributions to the Amazon Fund following changes to its governance under Brazil’s government.
Brazil restored governance arrangements for the Amazon Fund, and Norwegian funding resumed.
Major uncertainties
- The scale and timing of future Norwegian contributions to the Amazon Fund are unclear.
- The durability of the fund’s governance arrangements and their implementation remains uncertain.