How is the world already helping?
Between 2005 and 2010, Brazil nearly met its goal—a full decade ahead of schedule. Data from 2009–2010 showed that Brazil’s area of deforestation, which averaged 19,508 square kilometers (km2) per year during the baseline decade of 1996–2005, had dropped 67 percent, to just 6,451 km2. UCS analysis of this change, using a formula for converting deforested area to CO2 emissions based on the work of the research institute amazon, estimated a reduction in Brazil’s global warming pollution of nearly 1 billion tons. Norway has given $1 billion to help Brazil for its emissions reductions; the first payment of $110 million was made in 2009. Unlike the case with “offset” funding (whereby corporations in industrialized nations pay for emissions reductions in tropical countries and, in exchange, are permitted to emit more heat-trapping gases in their own countries), there will be no corresponding increase in Norway’s emissions as a result of its commitment to Brazil.