Since November 2020, BVRio has been participating in preparatory meetings for the implementation of the Amazon Forest Forum, a regional forum of the Forest Dialogue, whose objective is to become a reference space for the construction of solutions for the protection and sustainable use of forests in the Brazilian Amazon.

Iara Meiri de Melo Moura Silva, 40, a mother of two, began working in the recycling market over 20 years ago with her mother, who came to Rio de Janeiro from the North East aged 17 years old. Iara is one of the female leaders in waste picker cooperatives in the State of Rio de Janeiro, in the Beija Flor Cooperative. Behind her love for her profession, Iara talks about the welcoming and learning space that exists in the cooperatives.

At the end of March 2021, BVRio completed its second project funded by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Forest Governance Markets and Climate (FGMC) programme. During the first project, running from 2015 to 2018, we adapted the Responsible Timber Exchange, originally developed for Brazil, to the circumstances of other tropical forest timber producer countries (Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Cameroon) and the consumer markets of the UK, EU and China.

The Circular Action Hub has been selected by PREVENT Waste Alliance as one of eight global innovative and sustainable pilot solutions that contribute to a circular economy in low- and middle-income countries.

In collaboration with Ghana Forestry Commission’s Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD), Forest Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Ghana Timber Millers Organization (GTMO) and the Ghana Timber Association (GTA), BVRio developed a set of communication materials that include technical information about a selection of timber species that are available to the international markets.