Amazon Private Sector Takes the Lead in Combating Illegal Deforestation
- Mayra Leal
- Sep 26
- 2 min read
New York – September 26, 2025 – The Amazon took center stage at New York Climate Week with the announcement of an unprecedented initiative from the Brazilian private sector to tackle deforestation. The Federation of Industries of the State of Pará (FIEPA) and the COP+ Journey, a multisectoral movement in the Amazon, launched the Program to Combat Illegal Deforestation and Burning, a pioneering effort by Amazon industry to accelerate Brazil’s goal of eliminating illegal deforestation by 2030.
FIEPA and COP+ Journey president, Alex Carvalho, highlighted the strategic nature of the measure. “By not tolerating illegal activities, we directly confront the fact that illegal deforestation destroys the forest, pollutes rivers, and erodes the Amazon’s reputation, with profound economic and geopolitical impacts. The Amazonian industry commits to being an active part of this global task force,” he stated.
The announcement took place during the CNI program at the Sustainable Business COP (SB COP), hosted at Accenture’s headquarters in New York, which showcased leading cases of global climate commitments. The launch also coincides with a downward trend in deforestation rates.
Recent data released by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) revealed that between August 2024 and July 2025, deforestation alerts decreased across three of Brazil’s main biomes. The Amazon recorded a nearly 50% drop. In Pará, the state that still concentrates the largest deforested area, there was a 21% reduction compared to the previous period.
Program Highlighted Mining Project in Pará
During the SB COP agenda, the organization’s president, Ricardo Mussa, reported that 600 projects were submitted to the initiative. The project selected by Mussa to be presented was the Carajás Mining Complex, operated by Vale. Considered one of the largest mining projects in the world, Carajás was cited as an example that economic development and environmental conservation can go hand in hand.
According to Mussa, in four decades of operation, Carajás has consolidated a unique experience. Since 1985, the complex has operated within a mosaic of 800,000 hectares of protected national forest, in partnership with ICMBio. Only 3% of this area has been used for mining, while 97% remains conserved. Today, these areas store about 601 million tons of CO₂ equivalent, making them one of the largest natural carbon reservoirs on the planet. The contrast with the so-called “deforestation arc” of the Amazon is stark: in regions where the forest was unprotected, losses reached nearly 70% over the last four decades.
For Alex Carvalho, the moment underscores the need to view the Amazon in a more strategic and less polarized way. “We must reject both extremes: the denial of climate change and the romanticized vision of the Amazon as a ‘green museum’ frozen in time. The Amazon is home to more than 28 million people, whose rights, livelihoods, and aspirations must be part of any sustainable future. Preserving the forest and improving quality of life in the region are not opposing goals, but inseparable ones,” he concluded.
