大象传媒

Fires continue to devastate the rainforest that is so crucial to the fight against climate change and to bio-diversity.聽 Observers point to a dry season that's even drier than usual, a huge amount of felled forest left over from last year's logging and a lack of enforcement against illegal deforestation. Critics of President Jai Bolsonaro say he is actively encouraging and enabling the practice, in the name of development.聽
Mauricio Savarese, Brazil correspondent for the AP news agency, has just completed a two-week tour of the region. He describes seeing the rolling smoke from the fires and how some believe parts of the forest could actually become a tropical savanna or just patches of trees, surrounded by farming land.

Photo: Fires burning in Para state, Brazil, August 2020 Credit: AFP via Getty Images