Major US financial firms are helping fund environmental destruction and indigenous rights abuses in the Amazon with billions of dollars in investments in questionable companies, according to a report published on Tuesday.
Brazil's biggest lobby group for soy farmers Aprosoja has broken ties with the Brazil Agribusiness Association (Abag) over its support for an initiative calling on the Brazilian government to rein in soaring deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
A group of eight European countries urged Brazil to take “real action” to combat rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, which is threatening Europe’s desire to source food and other products sustainably.
After Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel stated on Friday “considerable doubts” over whether to keep backing the European Union’s (EU) trade deal with the Mercosur due to environmental threats that represent the deforestation in Brazil’s Amazonia, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) responded defending the agreement that was reached last year.
Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao on Wednesday called on actor Leonardo DiCaprio to visit the Amazon to see the reality of the situation there, as the government faces criticisms for rising destruction in the world's largest rainforest.
Indigenous protesters in Brazil agreed on Tuesday to suspend their roadblock of a key highway amid a court battle but vowed to fight on for more help against COVID-19 and an end to deforestation.
A study published by Science magazine on July 16 indicated that a fifth of Brazilian soy imports received by the European Union may come from land that has been illegally deforested.
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rose for the 14th consecutive month in June, preliminary government data on Friday showed, heaping further pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro who is under fire for worsening destruction of the rainforest on his watch.
Investment funds managing close to US$4 trillion in assets called on Brazil on Tuesday to halt deforestation of the Amazon in an open letter warning that biodiversity loss and carbon emissions pose a systemic risk to their portfolios.
Major European investment firms have said they will divest from beef producers, grains traders, and even government bonds in Brazil if they do not see progress in resolving the surging destruction of the Amazon rainforest.