The readers of British publication Mining Journal have elected the Vale Forest program as a reference among initiatives in the field of sustainability in 2011. In five years, almost 100,000 hectares of native forest and degraded areas have been protected and restored in the state of Pará, Brazil.
Vale Forest is one of the largest reforestation funds in Brazil. Its main goal is to protect and restore native forests and degraded habitat in the Amazon while promoting ordered land use and sustainable regional development. It is expected that by 2015, around R$600 million will have been invested in the fund, which aims to cover a total area of 450,000 hectares of forest in 2022.
Besides Vale, Vale Forest's partners are Brazil’s national development bank, BNDES, and the employee pension funds of Caixa Econômica Federal (Funcef) and Petrobras (Petros).