Behind the Story: The Amazon's 'Arc of Deforestation'

Ever since the 2018 election of Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist with a disdain for science, deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have skyrocketed. Jesse Hyde traveled to Brasilia in June 2019 to examine the political dynamics that have led to the dismantling of environmental protections in the Amazon under Bolsonaro. He spent several weeks in the Amazon, traveling across an area known as the arc of deforestation, to report on the impact of cattle ranching and a series of violent conflicts that have erupted over the forest’s future. His reporting for this series was published in Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, and the Deseret News.