Bilateral meeting with H.E. Marina Silva, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change of the Federative Republic of Brazil

06 October 2025, Rome: FAO Director-General, Dr QU Dongyu, met today with Her Excellency Marina Silva, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change of the Federative Republic of Brazil at FAO headquarters in Rome.

The Director-General welcomed the Minister, commending the remarkable alliance with Brazil on key issues related to the Organization’s core mandate. He also praised the country’s leadership in the run-up to COP 30 in Belém in November 2025. He reminisced about his various visits to the country, during which he enjoyed productive discussions with President Lula and ministers from areas related to FAO’s work.

The Director-General referred to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, led by Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, to be officially launched at COP 30, and also referred to the event recently held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. For the Facility to be successful, the Director-General highlighted that it was important to focus on three key areas, namely: cross-border activities to leverage support for initiatives benefiting multiple countries, such as combatting wildfires in the Amazon region; biodiversity conservation, the bioeconomy, food diversity, and the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities; and innovation in many areas in which Brazil could share best practices, such as animal husbandry, genetic resources and soybean production, among others. Finally, the Director-General reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to supporting the Facility, and more broadly to translating technical discussions into practical outcomes at regional and international levels.

Minister Silva thanked the Director-General and provided an overview of Brazil’s progress in sustainable rural development. She welcomed and joined the Director-General’s emphasis on a cross-border approach to addressing critical issues, noting that Brazil envisaged a strong global alliance to combat climate change, as well as renewed regional efforts to counteract wildfires in the Amazon region and beyond.

The Minister also informed that the government had prioritized the financial inclusion of indigenous, local and traditional communities, including providing them with access to credit. She described multiple tools such as payments for ecosystem and tropical forest services, incentives, and other financial mechanisms intended to counteract environmentally damaging practices. The Minister also referred to the Brazilian government’s initiative aimed at stabilizing the country’s macroeconomic framework to make it more predictable, thus ensuring the structural conditions necessary to attract investments for Brazil’s ecological transformation. Finally, Minister Silva discussed her country’s ongoing efforts to restore vast areas of degraded agricultural land.

Both parties agreed to continue collaborating to transform Brazil’s agrifood system in line with the government’s priorities and FAO’s mandate. They also recognized the importance of securing enhanced support from a range of stakeholders, including multilateral organizations, in the run-up to and aftermath of COP 30.

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