There's a danger that some of the rainforests hit a tipping point where the ecosystem no longer functions properly. The benefits of preserving the rainforest are so much greater than the cost, that humanity has to come up with an arrangement to do it. And we're at about 17% at the moment, so we really don't have much time.
The economics are clear-cut: the benefits of preserving the lungs of the world vastly outweigh those of felling trees. We travel to the Amazon and find that the problem is largely down to lawlessness in the world’s rainforests. And reflecting on the life of Oe Kenzaburo, a Japanese writer shaped by family crisis who gave voice to the voiceless.
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