Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest the forest is still shrinking.<ref name="INPE/Prods satellite data"> INPE figures August to July.</ref> Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg announced on September 16, 2008, that Norway's government would donate US $1 billion to the newly established Amazon fund. The money from this fund would go to projects aimed at slowing down the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. In September 2015, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff told the United Nations that Brazil had effectively reduced the rate of deforestation in the Amazon by 82 percent. She also announced that over the next 15 years, Brazil aimed to eliminate illegal deforestation, restore and reforest
Rainforest of the Austrians was honoured with the prestigious 'Binding Environmental Prize' in Liechtenstein. The Naturhistorisches Museum displayed a special exhibition of the project. The ORF showed a documentation about it in the television program 'Universum'. Rainforest of the Austrians Rainforest of the Austrians is an environment protection project was founded by Michael Schnitzler, an Austrian violinist and grandson of the poet Arthur Schnitzler, as a non-profit organization. Its goal is raising funds to buy properties in the Esquinas Rainforest which is 146.7 square kilometres big and located in the south of Costa Rica. These properties become part of the Piedras Blancas National Park.