19 January 2017, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland – The Government of Norway is setting up a new fund to kick-start investments in deforestation-free agriculture in countries that are working to reduce their forest and peat degradation. It will work in partnership with the Global Environment Facility, UN Environment Programme, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and major food companies and environmental NGOs, and aims to protect over 5 million hectares of forests and peatlands by 2020, equivalent to the size of Costa Rica.

The fund will be launched with a commitment of up to $100 million from the Norwegian government, based on a capitalization goal of $400 million by 2020, to be drawn from other bilateral and multilateral donors as well as private sector partners. The capital will be used in part to help the productivity of small-scale farmers.

Agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of deforestation. Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometres of forest were cut down. To date, investments in increasing agricultural production tend to have favoured expanding into tropical forests rather than intensifying agricultural production on existing arable land.

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