A Ugandan baboon sits in a farmer's jackfruit tree. Megan Kearns/Courtesy of Innovations for Poverty Action hide caption
deforestation deforestation
Sunset colors cut through the smoky haze in the Brazilian Amazon in 2015. Kainaz Amaria/NPR hide caption
This peat soil in Sumatra, Indonesia, was formerly a forest. Clearing and draining such land releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images hide caption
Deforestation in Rondonia has increased by 41 percent. Kainaz Amaria/NPR hide caption
Francisco Carlos Fonseca is the manager of Marina Confiança, a resort located on the banks of the Cantareira reservoir system. Behind him is a boat ramp that once led to a lake that he says used to be more than 100 feet deep. Kainaz Amaria/NPR hide caption
As Brazil's Largest City Struggles With Drought, Residents Are Leaving
An impala strikes a pose under a forest canopy in Zimbabwe. Morkel Erasmus/Getty Images/Gallo Images hide caption
A man and his drone: Carlos Casteneda of the Amazon Basin Conservation Association prepares to launch one of his plastic foam planes. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption
A baby orangutan wearing a diaper swings through the trees at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program outside Medan, capital of Indonesia's North Sumatra province. The program takes mostly orphaned orangutans, nurses them back to health and releases them back into the wild. Anthony Kuhn/NPR hide caption
As Palm Oil Farms Expand, It's A Race To Save Indonesia's Orangutans
Doughnuts at a Krispy Kreme store in Washington, D.C. An environmental coalition says leading doughnut companies like Krispy Kreme source palm oil from suppliers who are clear-cutting rain forests and destroying wildlife habitat. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
A truck carrying hardwood timber drives along a rural road leading to Paragominas, Brazil, on Sept. 23, 2011. The city has become a pioneering "Green City," a model of sustainability with a new economic approach that has seen illegal deforestation virtually halted. Andre Penner/AP hide caption
Should our growing understanding of pre-Columbian settlements in the Amazon have any bearing on the debate over the region's development today? Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images hide caption