Macron holds hands with Brazilian president on Amazon trek

French president keeps up appearances on trip to Brazil to announce $1.1 billion green investment plan

Just days after Emmanuel Macron was pictured in a T-shirt sparring with a punchbag, photos have emerged of him posing in smart shoes and a pristine white shirt in the Amazonian jungle.
The 46-year-old kept up appearances in the first visit to Brazil by a French president in 11 years, after spats with Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, over environmental destruction and insults directed at his wife, Brigitte.
After stopping in nearby French Guiana, where he kept his suit and tie on despite sweltering conditions, Mr Macron kicked off the visit in Belem with the launch of a $1.1 billion Amazonian green investment plan alongside his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mr Macron then ditched his jacket and tie to take a boat with Mr da Silva to the jungle island of Combu where they met indigenous leaders.
Mr Macron awarded Raoni Metuktire, the tribal chief, with the Legion of Honour, the highest French distinction, for his role as an “international figure in the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and the culture of indigenous peoples”.
Mr Metuktire left his home in the Amazon more than 30 years ago to travel the world with his warning of the threats posed by the destruction of the rainforest.
The striking figure with his large wooden lip plate and yellow feather headdress, has become a global figurehead in the fight to raise awareness of climate change.
At one point the venerable chief, who is thought to be 90, grabbed the microphone to welcome Mr da Silva and Mr Macron, saying he saw them as his “father and son” and urged them to back his bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Tuesday’s announcement proposes the creation of a “carbon market,” intended to reward countries which invest in natural carbon sinks, such as the Amazon rainforest. The world’s largest tropical forest plays a key role in the fight against climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions.
After Mr da Silva’s government stepped up environmental policing of the Amazon, deforestation halved in 2023 after being ramped up by Mr Bolsonaro.
The agreement also includes support for “indigenous people and local Amazon communities, which have an essential role in protecting biodiversity through their traditional knowledge and forest management practices”.
France and Brazil are working together to manufacture four conventionally powered submarines, the third of which will be launched on Wednesday by both leaders at the Itaguai naval base, near Rio de Janeiro.
Yet despite the bonhomie, they do not see eye-to-eye on various issues, such as the long-stalled free trade agreement between the EU and South America’s Mercosur bloc, which has recently run into fierce resistance from European farmers.
Mr Macron said in January that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours.”
Another bone of contention is the war in Ukraine. While Mr Macron has ratcheted up the rhetoric supporting president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr da Silva, self-styled champion of the “global South”, has insisted that Kyiv and Moscow share responsibility over the conflict and has refused to take a stand against Russia.