Brazil and the environmental responsibility of the Amazon rainforest

CAN BRAZIL SHOULDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF HAVING 60% OF THE AMAZON? Our generation is likely to be defined almost entirely by our response to the climate crisis. When the world as we know it will go in one of two ways, the next few years will be crucial to the future of planet earth. Nowhere is the environment higher up on the agenda than in Brazil – the country that controls two thirds of the Amazon rainforest. A common nickname for The Amazon – ‘the lungs of the world’ – aptly communicates the rainforest’s importance to Everyone. Everyone bar Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, it seems. Infamously sceptical of climate change, Bolsonaro has even tried to use the forest as a bargaining chip, making President Biden the audacious offer of a 40% reduction in deforestation in return for $1 Billion. The debate over stewardship of the Amazon will further increase in urgency after reports emerged in mid-July that the forest now emits more CO2 than it absorbs. Tom Biggart finds out whether the Brazilian Amazon has a future.