Even as new roads are built into the Amazon and ranching, farming, and logging continue to pose huge threats to the rainforest, some business and political leaders in the region are increasingly advocating environmentally friendly development. For example, the government of Joao Capiberibe, the governor of Amapa, one of nine states in the Brazilian Amazon, has prohibited wood cutting and soybean farming and is encouraging the production of organic hearts-of-palm. In the neighboring state of Para, the company AgroPalma hopes to make Brazil a leading producer of palm oil, which comes from trees that take well to land already degraded by farming and ranching, removing an incentive to clear yet more rainforest for cultivation. The World Wildlife Fund is helping to shepherd small-scale environmentally friendly projects throughout the region.
