GeoGator Dr. Cynthia Simmons joined colleagues at University of Texas, Austin’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies in a forum entitled Foro Urgente: “The Amazon Is Burning—Why It Should Matter to You”.
The recent surge in Amazon forest fires has sounded the international alarm, eliciting protests from European heads-of-state, scientists, Hollywood stars, and on social media. Under the administration of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian government has scaled back environmental laws and enforcement capabilities, defiantly claiming Brazil’s sovereign right to extract the Amazon’s resources. This Foro Urgente brings together specialists in the history, geography, and political economy of tropical forests to reflect on the crisis in the Amazon, one of the most pressing contemporary environmental challenges.