In a cabinet meeting in April last year, Brazil’s Environment Minister Ricardo Salles — who resigned yesterday under pressure from a pair of criminal investigations for allegedly using his office to benefit illegal loggers — urged the government to take advantage of the undivided press attention on the Covid-19 pandemic to “run the cattle herd” through the Amazon, “changing all of the rules and simplifying standards.”
While Mr. Salles did not expect his remarks made during a behind-closed-doors meeting to become public knowledge, his department has done precisely that. Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro showed...
