Brazil, France launch €1bn program to protect Amazon

Brazil and France launched a four-year, €1bn ($1.1bn) investment program to protect the Amazon rainforest using private and public funds, the countries said on Tuesday as French president Emmanuel Macron is visiting the South American nation.

"Gathered in Belem, in the heart of the Amazon, we, Brazil and France, Amazonian countries, have decided to join forces to promote an international roadmap for protection of tropical forests," the two countries said.

Under the program, Brazil's public banks — such as the Bndes development bank — and the French development agency will form "technical and financial partnerships."

The two countries also agreed to develop new research projects on sustainable sectors and create a research hub to share technologies to develop the bioeconomy.

Macron and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Belem — near the mouth of the Amazon and the host city of Cop 30 — on 26 March. During the trip, indigenous leader and environmental campaigner Raoine Metuktire, of the Kayapo tribe, urged Lula to prevent construction of the 900km (559-mile) Ferrograo railroad, which could lower costs of transporting grains from Mato Grosso state, Brazil's largest agricultural producer.

Macron will also visit Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and capital Brasilia. This is his first trip to Brazil, as he had cut ties with the South American country during former president Jair Bolsonaro's administration. Bolsonaro put little focus on environmental protections during his term, policies that his successor has reversed.

Brazil now aims to reach zero deforestation by 2030. It reduced deforestation in the Amazon by almost 50pc last year, according to government data.

Deforestation in the region hit 196km² in January-February, a 63pc drop from the same period in 2023 and a six-year low, according to NGO Imazon, which focuses on research to promote climate justice in the Amazon.

By Lucas Parolin