Given that Brazil holds approximately one-third of the world's biodiversity and 20% of its fresh water in the Amazon rainforest, it is also becoming a leader in fields ranging from combating deforestation (which has dropped by 80% since 2004) to plant genetics.
There are also some ecosystems, such as the boreal forests of Canada and Siberia and the Amazon rainforest, which are huge absorbers of carbon dioxide, but which are changing rapidly because of temperature increases and deforestation.
Its management of the Amazon rainforest is crucial to the health of the planet, which is why the recent large reduction in the rate of deforestation has been so encouraging.