More than 26,000 fires have raged throughout Brazilian Amazon this month alone—the fastest rate of destruction since record keeping began. President Jair Bolsonaro campaigned with a promise to open the Amazon to development and eight months into his term, having withdrawn enforcement of protective laws, deforestation is sharply on the rise. As the fires continue to burn in the Amazon—two thirds of which is in Brazil—that ecosystem is hurtling toward what some are calling a tipping point. While satellite images of massive plumes of smoke and a darkened daytime São Paulo sky have captured media attention globally, Carlos Souza, senior associate researcher at Imazon (Skoll Awardee 2010) asks what will happen when the smoke clears.
Read the complete interview here.