By Ana Mano
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -The Bunge Foundation has signed a cooperation agreement in Brazil to train indigenous fire brigades in five states through 2029, according to a statement on Tuesday.
The foundation, backed by U.S. grain trader and food processor Bunge, said the partnership with Brazilian environmental agency Ibama will support up to 40 indigenous brigades, providing training and assistance to fight forest fires in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Para, Maranhao and Tocantins.
According to data from MapBiomas, a nonprofit land-use research group, 30.80 million hectares (76.1 million acres) burned in Brazil in 2024, an area larger than Italy, Bunge Foundation said in the statement. That figure represents an increase of 13.6 million hectares compared to 2023 and is the largest burned area since 2019, the MapBiomas data showed. Some three-fourths of the burned vegetation was native, the foundation’s statement said, citing MapBiomas.
In Brazil, fire has been used in agriculture for clearing land to rear cattle or grow crops like soy. Scholars say that historically, farmers have used fire to control pests or dispose of waste.
Brazil is one of the world’s biggest food producers and exporters, and an important country for Bunge’s operations.
Flavia Leite, general coordinator of Brazil’s national forest fire agency PrevFogo, said the partnership between Ibama and the Bunge Foundation marks a key step in strengthening actions against forest fires, combining efforts to protect communities, conserve biodiversity and stand up to climate change.
“The ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples is essential for the conservation and monitoring of forests,” said Claudia Calais, executive director of the Bunge Foundation, in the statement.
(Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by David Gregorio)
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