Brazil has unveiled its plan to encourage farmers in the Amazon region to develop sustainable sources of income and turn their backs on the illegal logging that is ravaging the rainforest. The Sustainable Amazon Plan includes £300m in low-interest loans that will be made available to farmers.
Some 40,000 families who were formerly involved in logging will also get social security and unemployment benefits.
The loans will be offered at 4% annual interest, well below Brazil's benchmark 11.75% rate, said the environment minister, Marina Silva.
The lush Amazon rainforest covers 1.6m square miles, an area larger than western Europe, and most of the rainforest is in Brazil. About 20% of the original forest has been razed by ranchers, loggers and developers.
