Small north and big South: the ownership-donorship nexus in the Amazon Fund

Abstract

The Amazon Fund is a Brazilian creation with the aim of raising funds to implement national strategies for the reduction of deforestation and sustainable development in the Legal Amazon. This article explains the governing structure of the Amazon Fund and argues that it is an example of an innovative instrument for sustainable development which to a large extent secures national ownership. The innovative elements include pay-for-performance funding, participatory governance and independent monitoring. The fund differentiates itself from traditional development aid by avoiding economic and political conditionalities, emphasizing recipient ownership and responsibility, yet it involves donations from the North to the South. The article further investigates the donors’ scope of influence, focussing on the largest donor, Norway. Notwithstanding the institutional safeguards from donor influence, the article shows that donors remain in power to withhold disbursements if breaches occur, which is illustrated by the example of the 2019 donor freeze of donations and funds use to new projects, and that donors use their partnership with Brazil to discuss how sustainable forest management contributes to the climate and to income generation for local peoples.

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