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Trending: The Denial Files: 3. The good science of ‘bad Brazilians’

Factual

The Denial Files

06/11/2021 GMT

3. The good science of ‘bad Brazilians’

BBC World Service - Trending, The Denial Files, 3. The good science of ‘bad Brazilians’

Do Brazilian leaders really believe in fighting climate change?

Brazil is among the countries that have pledged to end deforestation within a decade. But do Brazilian leaders really believe in fighting climate change?

Brazil has pledged to end deforestation within a decade in a pledge signed by more than 100 nations at the COP26 climate summit. But do Brazilian leaders really believe in fighting climate change?

Inside the country, climate change disinformation is thriving, while good and credible information is being undermined, even by the country’s own president.

Influential voices with connections to the agriculture industry are spreading baseless conspiracy theories that man-made climate change is a hoax, invented by foreigners to hold the country’s economy back. Scientists at one of the government’s own agencies were accused of being “bad Brazilians” by President Jair Bolsonaro, after they produced data which showed an alarming rate of deforestation in the Amazon. The row resulted in the sacking of the head of the agency, who now fears the government is in the grip of climate change denialism. 

However, President Bolsonaro insists he is stepping up protection of the environment and has warned other countries not to meddle in Brazil’s internal affairs. Is the Amazon, one of the most important regions in the world for fighting climate change, safe in his hands?

Trending: The Denial Files

How disinformation and denial are threatening the fight to prevent climate catastrophe.

Does the battle to prevent catastrophic climate change depend on winning the information war? 

In a special series coinciding with the crucial Cop 26 summit, BBC Trending investigates how disinformation and denial are threatening efforts to combat man-made climate change in different ways around the world. 

The overwhelming weight of global scientific opinion agrees that humanity is at a turning point where only urgent and dramatic action will save the planet from disaster. 

But even as evidence of the dangers mounts up, the push to avert crisis is under attack on a range of fronts. 

This series will explore how vested interests are adopting new tactics to delay, block, or distract attention from what science says needs to be done. And it will examine the role of social media in spreading baseless conspiracy theories that warp debate with potential real life consequences. 

The series will also speak to the scientists and activists who are determined to fight back against the disinformation before it’s too late.

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