Marina Silva, 61, is arguably the foremost Brazilian environmental figure of the past 25 years. Born into a rubber-tapping family in the western Amazon state of Acre, she worked in the 1980s with Chico Mendes, the celebrated trade unionist and green advocate, to promote environmentally sound use of the Amazon region. Mendes was murdered in 1988, but Silva persisted. In 1994, she became the first rubber tapper elected to the national Senate. She served as Brazil’s environment minister during 2003-08, launching a forest-protection drive that sharply reduced the rate of Amazon land clearing from 2004 to 2012. But deforestation has quickened since; recent estimates indicate it has surged under Brazil’s current president, Jair Bolsonaro. (See "As land study points one way, Brazil goes in other" —EcoAméricas, November 2019.) Silva has run unsuccessfully for president three times, most recently in 2018. Currently, she is traveling in Brazil and abroad to warn about the relaxation of environmental protections under Bolsonaro. Silva spoke with EcoAméricas correspondent Lucien Chauvin on a recent visit to Peru. [Log in to read more]

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