Norway will contribute $180 million in Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) funding to Brazil, even as the nations disagree over who should monitor carbon savings. Payments from Norway now total $670 million, out of $1 billion pledged by 2015, and Brazil's rate of deforestation has fallen nearly 70 percent from historic levels as it reduced the rate of loss by 27 percent from 2011 to 2012. However, the nations' disagreement over who should measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by trees is hampering efforts at forest protection. Brazil's chief climate negotiator said efforts to prevent deforestation are national measures and must be governed nationally, but Norway is seeking stricter oversight for the REDD program from an international body. "We are willing to pay as long as we can be sure that we are paying for actual emission reductions,” said Norway's chief negotiator. “Donor countries need credible figures as a basis for asking their parliaments for money for this.” Brazil has insisted on a domestic system to check the accuracy of its data and has maintained that it has achieved considerable reductions, and Norway has agreed. "The importance of what Brazil has achieved on deforestation over the last few years can hardly be overestimated,” said Norway’s environment minister. The president of the Climate Justice Program has warned that the disagreement is causing a significant delay and that Norway "wants a higher degree of verification than Brazil is prepared to give." For the full story, see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-06/norway-pays-brazil-for-deforestation-cut-amid-verification-row.html and http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/seeing-redd-brazil-norway-in-tiff-over-forest-monitoring-20121206-2awno.html.