FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 21, 2019. Picture taken August 21, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian states are bolstering the fight against destruction of the Amazon rainforest with millions of dollars from an oil company's corruption settlement that allows them to partially compensate for weakening environmental protections under President Jair Bolsonaro.
State environmental agencies will have a one-off windfall that Reuters calculates will total at least 140 million reais (21.4 million pounds). The cash, which comes from a massive settlement payment from state-run oil firm Petrobras, will be spent on patrol officers, jeeps, surveillance technology and other outlays to protect the rainforest, officials in all nine Amazon states told Reuters.
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