Is Brazil doing enough to protect the Amazon? episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 18, 2025 · 26 MIN

Is Brazil doing enough to protect the Amazon?

from The Climate Question · host BBC World Service

This week Host Graihagh Jackson grabs a chat with the BBC’s correspondents in two countries that will shape our future climate. Brazil is about to host the giant COP climate conference in the Amazon, but the pace of reducing deforestation has just slowed and there are concerns about potentially weaker environmental standards. Ione Wells in Sao Paulo also talks Graihagh through proposals for oil exploration in the mouth of the rainforest. Plus, China has just started work on the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam. It’s a huge 167-billion dollar project to bring power from Tibet to Hong Kong. The dam will increase Beijing’s use of renewable energy, but comes with a potential environmental cost, as well as the risk of creating tension with China’s neighbours. Laura Bicker gives us some staggering facts and figures about the dam – as well as an explanation of how fish can use “ladders”. Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: [email protected] or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Presenter: Graihagh Jackson with Jordan Dunbar Producer: Diane Richardson Production Co-Ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Sound Engineers: Dafydd Evans and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

This week Host Graihagh Jackson grabs a chat with the BBC’s correspondents in two countries that will shape our future climate. Brazil is about to host the giant COP climate conference in the Amazon, but the pace of reducing deforestation has just slowed and there are concerns about potentially weaker environmental standards. Ione Wells in Sao Paulo also talks Graihagh through proposals for oil exploration in the mouth of the rainforest. Plus, China has just started work on the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam. It’s a huge 167-billion dollar project to bring power from Tibet to Hong Kong. The dam will increase Beijing’s use of renewable energy, but comes with a potential environmental cost, as well as the risk of creating tension with China’s neighbours. Laura Bicker gives us some staggering facts and figures about the dam – as well as an explanation of how fish can use “ladders”. Got a climate question you’d like answered? Email: [email protected] or WhatsApp: +44 8000 321 721Presenter: Graihagh Jackson with Jordan Dunbar Producer: Diane Richardson Production Co-Ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Sound Engineers: Dafydd Evans and Tom Brignell Editor: Simon Watts

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Is Brazil doing enough to protect the Amazon?

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This week Host Graihagh Jackson grabs a chat with the BBC’s correspondents in two countries that will shape our future climate. Brazil is about to host the giant COP climate conference in the Amazon, but the pace of reducing deforestation has just...

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