Recently, FP’s Robbie Gramer reported from the Brazilian Amazon, where rampant deforestation threatens to transform the rainforest into a savanna—and thus jeopardize global efforts to rein in climate change. “As the Amazon edges closer toward that brink,” Gramer wrote, “a hodgepodge of scientists, Indigenous communities, underfunded environmental protection officials, and foreign governments have scrambled to find ways to protect what they can and stave off that tipping point for as long as possible.”

This edition of Flash Points explores the forces that shape environmental policy in the Amazon and beyond—from local communities and scientists to foreign governments and global nonprofits—and the barriers to environmental preservation and conservation worldwide.

Who Owns the Earth’s Lungs?

The battle to save the Amazon goes beyond Brazil, FP’s Robbie Gramer writes.

Nature Is Becoming a Person

How to make sense of the new global trend that grants legal rights to animals, plants, and rivers, according to Justin E. H. Smith.

Why Scientists Should Shape Environmental Policy

If experts and industry leaders cooperate, innovation may be possible, James Saiers writes.

Sustainable Investment Is Flooding the Market

And Latin America is poised for a windfall, Lisa Viscidi writes.

Western Nonprofits Are Trampling Over Africans’ Rights and Land

Indigenous people are being forced out from so-called protected areas, Aby L. Sène writes.