Brazil demand for U.S. to pay upfront stalls deal to save Amazon forest
By Reuters
|April 15, 2021, at 12:15 p.m.
FILE PHOTO: A burning tract of the Amazon forest as it is cleared by farmers, in Rio Pardo, Rondonia, Brazil September 16, 2019. REUTERS/Ricardo MoraesREUTERS
By Jake Spring
BRASILIA (Reuters) - The United States and Brazil are at an impasse on a deal to stop destruction of the Amazon rainforest, which has surged under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
While Brazil wants to receive money upfront to pay for the protection of the world's largest rainforest, the United States is insistent on seeing results first before it opens the purse strings, sources said.
Bolsonaro is expected to attend the high-profile U.S. Earth Day summit that starts April 22.
While former President Donald Trump, a Bolsonaro ally, did not criticize Brazil over its handling of the Amazon, the Biden government has placed the issue at the center of its relations with South America's largest country.
Talks between the two sides began in February with a call between U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry and Brazil's environment and foreign ministers.
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