Brazil's far-right leader said Friday that his country could expand agribusiness without harming the Amazon as he spoke highly of meeting US President Joe Biden, who raised the issue of climate change.

"We don't need the Amazon to expand agribusiness," Bolsonaro told the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, where he met Biden a day earlier.

Bolsonaro has enraged environmentalists by championing large agricultural companies involved in the deforestation of the Amazon, a crucial "sink" for carbon emissions blamed for the planet's rising temperatures.

Bolsonaro was one of the top international allies of former US president Donald Trump, even backing his baseless claims of fraud in his 2020 election loss, but praised Biden.

The meeting was "simply fantastic," Bolsonaro said.

A day after the meeting, Bolsonaro and Biden patted each other on the arms and appeared to exchange pleasantries as they posed for a group photo at the summit.

Biden agreed to meet Bolsonaro for the first time as the United States tried to secure attendance at the summit, already marred by a boycott by the leftist president of Mexico -- the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke highly of Biden's meeting with Bolsonaro.

The talks are "best described as constructive, an opportunity to address a lot of issues in the bilateral relationship right now," Blinken told reporters.

He said that the United States was concerned about the Amazon as the "lungs of the hemisphere" and that Biden told Bolsonaro that the United States felt a need to help.

"We feel a responsibility to do that because over many, many, many generations, we were able to take advantage ourselves -- for example, clearing forests in order to have agricultural production or industry before anyone understood the impact of climate change," Blinken said.

The United States is committed to offering financing and other support to ensure that countries "have the means not to further engage in deforestation or even to engage in reforestation," he said.

Bolsonaro separately defended the response to the disappearance in the Amazon of a British journalist and a Brazilian Indigenous expert after accusations that his government did not prioritize efforts.

"From the very first moment our armed forces and police have tirelessly searched for these people," Bolsonaro said.

Bolsonaro is trailing in polls ahead of October elections to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist icon who was jailed on controversial corruption charges.

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon remains high in May
Brasilia (AFP) June 10, 2022 - Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell in May from the same month last year, but came in at the second-highest level on record for the period, continuing a devastating year for the world's biggest rainforest.

Figures based on satellite data published Friday by the national space agency, INPE, showed a total of 900 square kilometers (347 square miles) of forest cover in the Brazilian Amazon was destroyed last month -- equivalent to more than 126,000 football fields.

The figure was down 35 percent from May 2021, but was still the second-worst since records began in August 2015.

And deforestation so far this year is up 12.7 percent from the same period last year.

Experts say the destruction is mainly driven by farming and ranching in Brazil, the world's top producer of soy and beef.

President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Brazil's powerful agribusiness lobby, has presided over a surge in destruction in the Amazon, a key resource in the race to curb climate change, since taking office in 2019.

Under the far-right president, who is up for reelection in October, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has risen by 75 percent from the previous decade.

At the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week, Bolsonaro said his country could expand agribusiness without harming the Amazon, and complained to US President Joe Biden about international pressure over the issue.

"We have a wealth in the heart of Brazil -- our Amazon, which is bigger than Western Europe, with incalculable riches, biodiversity, mineral wealth, drinking water and oxygen sources," Bolsonaro said, as he met Biden on the sidelines of the summit.

"Sometimes we feel that our sovereignty is threatened in that area but Brazil preserves its territory well," he said.

"On the environmental issue we have our difficulties but we do our best to defend our interests."

Experts say otherwise.

"Despite all the alerts from the scientific community, Brazil continues flying in the face of sustainable development," Mariana Napolitano, science director at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Brazil, told AFP.

"These deforestation records make it clear an environmentally just and balanced future is more remote every day and make it clear how ineffective current environmental policies are."

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Brazil leader complains to Biden about pressure over Amazon
Los Angeles (AFP) June 10, 2022
Brazil's right-wing leader on Thursday complained to US President Joe Biden about international pressure over the Amazon amid calls for more action on climate change. "We have a wealth in the heart of Brazil - our Amazon, which is bigger than Western Europe, with incalculable riches, biodiversity, mineral wealth, drinking water and oxygen sources," Bolsonaro said, as he met Biden on the sidelines of an Americas summit in Los Angeles. "Sometimes we feel that our sovereignty is threatened in that ... read more