August 19, 2019 6:00 AM EDT
Science is always a potential threat to authoritarian rulers, because it uncovers truths that contradict their lies.
Recently we’ve seen a dramatic example of this conflict in Brazil, where the director of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has been fired by the country’s new President, Jair Bolsonaro, for releasing data showing a substantial increase in Amazon deforestation. Read more >
September 7, 2018 11:54 AM EDT
I was recently invited by the editors of the journal Tropical Conservation Science to write an update of a 2013 article on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon that I had published with Sarah Roquemore and Estrellita Fitzhugh. They asked me to review how deforestation has changed over the past five years. The most notable result, as you can see from the graph in the just-published article (open-access), is that overall it hasn’t changed. And that’s actually quite surprising.
December 14, 2016 5:09 PM EDT
In Brazil, deforestation in the Amazon has been compared to a starved dragon. However, this dragon has been under control in the past. Deforestation in the region declined 70% from 2005 (19,014 km2) to 2014 (5,012 km2) in response to different strategies described in the literature. But the monster was not killed, it was just taking a nap. Read more >
September 13, 2016 9:48 AM EDT
Along with the rest of the world, I was transfixed by the Olympics last month in Rio. Besides the athletic feats of strength and prowess, I found myself fascinated by drama surrounding the games. Read more >
August 1, 2016 10:14 AM EDT
I took a close look at Restaurant Brands International’s commitments in terms of tropical deforestation, and found that their plan is lacking in real action. The framework raises more questions than it answers. Here are four of them. Read more >
