This Saturday, March 16, the official launch event for the 'Forest4Life Paraguay' Project took place in the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve. This cooperation initiative between Paraguay and the European Union (EU) seeks to contribute to the strengthening of the country's national system of protected areas and provide support to forest fire prevention and combat capabilities. The event was attended by the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Rolando Gabriel de Barros Barreto, the executive director of the Moises Bertoni Foundation, Yan Speranza, the ambassador of the European Union in Paraguay, Javier García Viedma and members of the local diplomatic corps of the EU.

In addition, representatives of the organizations involved in the implementation of the project and municipal and departmental authorities were present. Commissioner Sinkevičius, the highest authority of the European Commission on environmental issues, is in the country as part of a tour of Latin America where he has already been addressing, together with authorities, unions and civil society, issues related to biodiversity, cooperation , combating deforestation, circular economy and sustainable supply chains.

About Forest4Life

The project has three main axes of work, ranging from technical assistance to MADES and INFONA to strengthen their capacities for fire prevention, conservation and restoration of ecosystems, to support for the consolidation of three protected areas that make up the national system of protected areas: the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve, the San Rafael National Park Reserve and the Chaco Biosphere Reserve. Likewise, it contemplates the promotion of sustainable productive activities in the buffer zones of protected areas. Thus, through involvement, local actors will increase their knowledge and skills for the sustainable management of land, water and other ecosystem services. The European Union's contribution to this initiative is 12 million euros of non-refundable cooperation, with a 5-year execution period.

About Commissioner Sinkevičius:

Virginijus Sinkevičius has been European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries since 2019. Previously he was Minister of Economy of Lithuania (2017-2019) and headed the Economy Committee of the Parliament of Lithuania. Sinkevičius was elected national MP in October 2016. Previously he was team leader of Regulatory Affairs at Invest Lithuania and editor-in-chief at The Lithuanian Tribune's US bureau in Washington DC Sinkevičius holds a degree in International Relations and Affairs from Aberystwyth University and has a master's degree in European International Affairs from Maastricht University.