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Amazon rainforest destruction fueled by violent crime, corruption and cattle

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Aerial view of a burnt area in the Amazon rainforest, near Porto Velho, state of Rondonia, northern Brazil, on August 31, 2022. (Douglas Magno/AFP via Getty Images)
Aerial view of a burnt area in the Amazon rainforest, near Porto Velho, state of Rondonia, northern Brazil, on August 31, 2022. (Douglas Magno/AFP via Getty Images)

This segment was rebroadcast on Nov. 24, 2022. Click here for that audio.

As the destruction of the Amazon rainforest gets closer to a tipping point, environmental crimes there have become violent, enforcement has been gutted and many local politicians are themselves perpetrators of the deforestation.

Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd talks with The Washington Post's Rio de Janeiro bureau chief Terrence McCoy who is the lead reporter for the series "The Amazon, Undone" revealing how crime, corruption and greed are speeding the destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

This segment aired on September 7, 2022.

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