Tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest are being cleared and paved over to build a new four-lane highway for, of all things, the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

Forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon — home to the largest swath of this rainforest — dropped 30.6% compared to the previous year, the lowest level of destruction in nine years.

A short walk beneath the dense Amazon canopy, the forest abruptly opens up. Fallen logs are rotting, the trees grow sparser, and the temperature rises in places sunlight hits the ground. This is ...

Wildfires and extreme drought. Forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon — home to the largest swath of this rainforest — dropped 30.6% compared to the previous year, the lowest level of destruction in ...