Member Article

JBS Fund for the Amazon invests over £10 million in new projects to protect the rainforest

A compostable alternative to plastic made from nut shells; a “cocoa corridor” of protected rainforest; and an initiative empowering women in indigenous tribes to protect their ancestral forests will all receive funding from international food company JBS, as part of their £10 million ‘Fund for the Amazon’.

In total, seven new projects have been selected from over 100 proposals, to add to the existing 12 initiatives being funded. All the projects supported by Fund for the Amazon aim to promote sustainability and protect the Amazon region, while respecting the rights of indigenous inhabitants. Each of the seven had to pass through a strategic analysis and an in-depth verification process to ensure they create lasting sustainable change.

“The new projects supported encourage the study and development of ingredients and products based on the biodiversity of the Amazon biome, generating business for the region”, points out Joanita Maestri Karoleski, president of the JBS Fund for the Amazon. “These innovative projects will undoubtedly make a massive contribution to the Amazon production chain and the local communities”, added Andrea Azevedo, Programs and Projects Director of the Fund.

The initiative already supports the development of bioplastic (green polypropylene) with the aim of scaling up Brazil nut waste into the composition of plastic.

Additionally, a joint study involving institutes and universities in the Amazon region, seeks to investigate the quantity of raw materials that are biodegradable. This would replace plastics which rely on fossil fuels for their production. A plant located in the Manaus Free Zone is willing to test this result on an industrial scale. The projects aims to diminish the impact of the plastic chain on the environment, generate income for the community and create a biodegradable product that fosters the circular economy and community-based businesses.

Two of the seven new initiatives will be partnerships with The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). One of these will be dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence applied to forestry automation and the spatialization of carbon. The other line of study will focus on social innovation and will be undertaken with the Carauari Rural Producers Association (ASPROC) to improve the results of the “Fair and Sustainable Fishing” project which the Fund approved last year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie Hayes .