Meet Johan Eliasch: Swedish billionaire who bought 400,000 acres of the Amazon forest to save it from deforestation and commercial destruction |
Johan Eliasch, a Swedish-British billionaire better known for building a global sportswear empire, made an unexpected move in 2005. He bought around 400,000 acres of Amazon rainforest in Brazil, not to exploit it but to protect it. By acquiring a logging company that held rights to the land, Eliasch shut down commercial operations and halted…