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00:29Transcription by ESO. Translation by —
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01:00The Amazon rainforest is at a tipping point.
01:03So all the little red dots, this is all...
01:05The war reset in first stage.
01:07And criminal networks are pushing it closer to the edge.
01:10To understand how they operate, I'll travel to a violent frontier.
01:19What's fueling the multi-billion dollar trade for illegal timber?
01:24How's a global gold rush wreaking havoc on the jungle?
01:28He said it could end up in a gold ring just like mine.
01:32And what are the stakes for our planet?
01:35I think it makes sense to think about the Amazon as a canary in the coal mine.
01:40If we can't save it, we're doomed.
02:03500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon,
02:07where a gold rush feeling hangs in the air.
02:12So as soon as you get here, you get a sense that this whole town is geared towards exploiting the
02:17Amazon.
02:18You can see it everywhere.
02:19There's gold shops, there's places selling, chainsaws.
02:23And even the local mayor is a former gold miner.
02:30While it might not surprise you that illegal logging is a major factor in deforestation,
02:36gold mining is equally malicious.
02:40I've come to this region where nearly 30 tons of gold are extracted illegally every year
02:47as the first step on my mission to understand how criminal networks are decimating the Amazon.
02:53Okay, we're here.
02:55But how do I actually make my way into the Amazon's underworld?
03:00Through a contact, I've set up a meeting with a driver who works for local prospectors.
03:06Obrigada por se encontrar aqui com a gente.
03:09Então me fala um pouco assim como é a economia dessa região.
03:12Economia de Taituba, de PNC, do Galil e da Madeira.
03:17Legal, ilegal, como é que é?
03:18Poucos ilegal, mas ilegal.
03:21Seria fácil pra gente encontrar parinho porque a gente pode fumar, garimpeiros, tudo isso?
03:26Ilegal?
03:27É.
03:28Muito difícil.
03:29Eles não vão querer querer que fio.
03:33Clearly, this is not the answer I'm looking for.
03:37But what I've learned from these situations is to never take the first no as the final answer.
03:42Brinjo.
03:43And to keep buying drinks.
03:45Para que a nossa mulher nunca fique viúva e nunca desculpe a nossa enamorada.
03:53Acordei e peguei no sono.
03:56Vesti a fantasia e virei um bobo.
04:00Quantas orções você tem?
04:02After a few rounds, the driver's tune has changed.
04:06Pengarim, pengarim, mata, né?
04:08He now says he might be able to get me into a mine he knows, deep in the Amazon jungle.
04:15But there's a catch.
04:17So, I think it's a little bit complicated.
04:19Because it's right inside the forest.
04:21Yes.
04:22It doesn't use cars, it doesn't use ships, it's just an avion.
04:26So, the only way to get in this car is just an avion?
04:29Just an avion.
04:32It's dangerous to get in the avion, right?
04:34Yes.
04:35There are some tracks that are dangerous.
04:37They're very short.
04:45And so, thanks to my new drinking buddy, the next morning, I find myself on one of the
04:51Amazon's infamous small planes.
04:54Have you ever had problems with an avion?
04:56Many friends here have already died, died, and have fallen off.
05:00Yes?
05:01I have fallen off.
05:02It's calm.
05:04What I'm indicating is me, right?
05:08I've already died, Javier.
05:09I've already died, I've already died, I've already died.
05:25Looking out the window, while trying not to think about going down in a ball of flames,
05:30I'm struck by the immensity of the Amazon.
05:33But in 2020, an area the size of 345 Manhattans was wiped out.
05:40And in Brazil, up to 94% of that deforestation can be considered illegal.
05:47So, all these brown docks that you see, all these clearings in the jungle, that's all the
05:52illegal gold mines.
05:54So, who are the criminals responsible for this destruction?
05:58And why is gold mining so devastating to the rainforest?
06:03I'm hoping to find out.
06:08This is what it's like to land on a runway made out of dirt.
06:13I can't tell you where I'm headed.
06:15It's an agreement I made last night with the driver.
06:18So, that's our guys waiting for us over there.
06:21There are contacts who are taking us to the mine.
06:25Okay, guys.
06:26Seriously, cameras, cameras down.
06:28Fuck.
06:28This is the area they ask not to film as we arrived.
06:31But I can tell you this.
06:33It's always a little nerve-wracking getting in a car with a masked man.
06:38Someone I don't know if I can trust.
06:40You're going to use your voice, right?
06:42The voice will also be changed.
06:43I promise.
06:46And this guy here is not good.
06:48It's not good yet.
06:49Because otherwise, you wouldn't be using a mask.
06:50With a mask.
06:52The mask man, who I'll be calling Alain,
06:55says he's taking me to one of his four gold mines deep in the rainforest.
07:03Alain tells me that other illegal prospectors in the area know I'm here.
07:07And we need to be on guard.
07:11They almost prevented us from even landing.
07:14And so he's saying that people are just super scared here.
07:20In Brazil, illegal gold mining is estimated to bring in more than a billion dollars a year.
07:27While gold trafficking is less widespread than logging,
07:30it can leave permanent scars.
07:33Loggers often harvest valuable trees and leave the rest.
07:37Miners, however, slash everything in their path.
07:41Wow.
07:42Surrounded by the jungle here.
07:44It's just a big clearing right in the middle of the rainforest.
07:48It's pretty big.
07:50Much bigger than I expected.
07:53At the belly of a man-made crater,
07:56miners toil away in the mud,
07:58stripping back layer after layer of earth.
08:01Two machines, two motors.
08:04It's a back-breaking, dirty job.
08:08It's a back-breaking, dirty job.
08:18Gold mines are a breeding ground for malaria.
08:21And the pace is furious.
08:26It's crazy to think that all of this has been done in just one week.
08:31They just started working in this area a week ago.
08:33And you can see how much of it is already cleared out.
08:41Deforestation from illegal gold mining has increased by more than 90% in recent years.
08:47And our insatiable thirst for the precious metal threatens to make the situation even worse.
08:54Tech companies consume hundreds of tons of gold a year.
08:58Pure gold is used in every smartphone.
09:00Where are the products that are being produced in the Amazon going?
09:04They're coming here to the U.S.
09:05They're going to Europe.
09:07These massive corporations could decide to really trace the supply chains,
09:14but they're choosing not to.
09:16The murky supply chain ensures that dirty gold finds its way into the market,
09:21much as blood diamonds do.
09:23And in Brazil, dirty gold has added significance.
09:27Oh, it's mercury that they were putting in.
09:34So he just has this mercury, and the gold sort of combines with the mercury,
09:39and that's how they look and find gold here.
09:43Despite what Alain says, mercury leaves rivers poisoned.
09:47The pollution can spread hundreds of miles downstream.
09:51You see these little specks?
09:53The yellow specks are the gold, and these little sort of silver balls
09:57that's the gold covered in mercury.
10:01Alain then takes the unrefined gold to a dealer,
10:04one who doesn't ask too many questions.
10:06E você acha que esse ouro vai acabar no Brasil ou vai sair do Brasil para outro país?
10:10Não sei para onde ele vai.
10:11Pode acabar assim numa...
10:12Uma aliança ou não?
10:13A gold ring just like mine?
10:16Em qualquer parte do mundo, né?
10:17Com certeza, isso pode fazer isso.
10:20O que você fala para os críticos, para as pessoas que falam que vocês estão destruindo a Amazônia,
10:25cortando a árvore, poluindo?
10:27Todo mundo critica, se preocupa com a Amazônia.
10:33Eu acho que eles teriam que pensar primeiro no país deles.
10:36Então, eu só tenho que dizer uma coisa, que eles deixam a gente trabalhar.
10:41Mas se os miners, como Alain, são simplesmente deixados para seus próprios dispositivos,
10:46a Amazônia vai continuar a enfrentar um futuro escuro.
10:49E, em muitos casos, eles realmente têm muito pouco para mostrar para isso.
10:54Às vezes, eles só recebem 70 a 80 gramas de gold out of an area like this,
10:59então, todo esse trabalho é quase nada para nada.
11:01That amount means only a few thousand dollars for a week of work for Alain and his two dozen workers.
11:07Então, é um pouco como jogar na lotaria.
11:11E jogar na lotaria da Amazônia.
11:14Arriscar.
11:15Querendo o prêmio, melhor.
11:18Traffickers in the Amazon are playing a high stakes game.
11:21And more times than not, they're losing.
11:29Os que estão fazendo o desmatamento não são os que estão lucrando com isso.
11:33Não, não são.
11:34This man is an inside source from Ibama, Brasil's Environmental Protection Agency.
11:41Você acha que essa máfia está crescendo?
11:43Bastante.
11:44E o que é que pode acontecer a você, se souberem que você está falando com a gente?
11:47Acho um risco muito grande.
11:48Porque podem fazer o quê?
11:50Eles matam.
11:51A gente ainda é um eixo aqui.
12:03Se tem esse risco, por que você está falando com a gente?
12:07É importante que as pessoas saibam isso.
12:09Isso tudo continua acontecendo.
12:11Está acontecendo mais do que nunca agora.
12:13E se ficar isso escondido, isso daí vai se perpetuar.
12:18Minha source from Ibama says that, at the moment, his agency is losing the battle with the Amazon Mafia.
12:26Como é que é possível isso continuar a nascer?
12:28Isso continua porque é muito lucrativo.
12:30É muito lucrativo.
12:32Então quem é que está lucrando com tudo isso?
12:34A gente com poder político, com poder econômico.
12:37Há tem políticos envolvidos nisso.
12:46Quem financia isso, ganha muito dinheiro, e muitas vezes não está nem na Amazônia.
12:54Mas a gente com poder econômico, com poder econômico, é muito lucrativo.
13:01O que é mais doido?
13:03A gente com que é dinheiro, o que é para o outro lado?
13:06O que é o dinheiro que passa por aqui é legal.
13:1050% legal e 50% legal.
13:14This dealer buys gold from mines all over the Amazon basin.
13:20When he has enough, he melts it and sells it to international buyers.
13:39Gold laundering, the mixing of legal and illegal gold,
13:42nearly ensures that trafficked gold finds its way into the market.
13:47These massive corporations will turn a blind eye to the mixing
13:50of illegally obtained materials with legally obtained materials.
13:55And then they can take the certificate of authenticity
13:58for the legally obtained stuff and slap it on the whole batch
14:00and say, okay, we're good.
14:02And because of this, 90% of Fortune 500 companies that invest in gold
14:08can be linked to illegal mines in Latin America.
14:12And how much is it now in dollars?
14:15Approximately $12.500.
14:18So there are people above you who are buying this euro
14:21and these people are making much more money with gold than you, right?
14:25Yes, I'm sure.
14:28I have no idea.
14:28Do you think that people who live here
14:30with your work are losing the Amazon basin?
14:35I don't know.
14:37I don't know how to answer it.
14:38If you keep exploring
14:39that Adam basin as we know now,
14:42the forest will go out and it'll work?
14:43Yes, with a certainty, both the garimpeo, the madeireiro, everyone has a contribution,
14:53so we have to find a solution, but to take a radical measure, to close the garimpo
15:01so that the Amazon respire will save the Amazon and kill the people.
15:16After seeing the effects of gold mining firsthand, I'm going deeper into the Amazon,
15:21hoping to find those responsible for deforestation's original sale.
15:27The first step in deforestation in the Amazon is usually illegal logging.
15:32So there are a few types of wood in the Amazon that are really valuable on the international market,
15:37things like mahogany.
15:39Loggers will go in, they'll cut down those valuable trees, and then they will just chop
15:45down all the rest and then burn them.
15:47Then, when the land is cleared from the fires, that can serve as cattle pastures.
15:54Shockingly, an estimated 50% of logging in Brazil is illegal.
15:59And the United States is one of the biggest importers of trafficked wood from the Amazon.
16:11The high stakes have made the jungle a violent place.
16:28On the edge of the Amazon's protected areas lies a small settlement.
16:34I've traveled here to understand what can happen to you when you go up against the Amazon Mafia.
16:41It's all growing, right?
16:43It's all growing, right?
16:45It's all growing, right?
16:45It's all growing, right?
16:46It's all growing, right?
16:46It's all growing.
16:49Osvalinda and Daniel Pereira run a small organic farm surrounded by old-growth timber.
16:58Nearly all the forests adjoining their property have been cut down in recent years.
17:16The Pereiras have managed to protect and plant new trees on their farm, and they've reported
17:22illegal activity to the authorities, which has made them a target of local criminals.
17:31It's all growing.
17:37One day, after returning to their homes, the couple found a local logging boss waiting for
17:43them, accompanied by a squad of armed men.
17:46They say, look, with your work, you'll die like Dorothy.
17:53Brazil has about 30% of the world's biodiversity.
17:57And so can you imagine when somebody chops down a tremendous area that burns for 10 days?
18:04Dorothy Stang was an American nun who campaigned for 30 years to stop illegal loggers in the Amazon.
18:10In 2005, while walking in the jungle, she was murdered with six shots fired at close range.
18:19Stang's murder is far from an isolated incident.
18:22More than 1,700 people have been killed in land conflicts since 2000.
18:28And in this part of the world, where impunity reigns, only 10% of the murders were brought to justice.
18:40Following the threats from the local logging boss, the Paredes awoke one morning to find that
18:45someone had crept onto their farm, leaving a terrifying warning.
19:10are pushed to trace one another another or another.
19:24And in this part of World War
19:32The Pereiras continue to receive death threats, but they refused to let the criminals have
19:37their way.
19:38Well, Daniel, our fight can't end now, we're alive, and we're going to fight.
19:50That's why you say that if it's going to die, it's going to die here, right?
19:54It's going to die here.
19:58It's going to die.
20:23My source says the situation got even more dire.
20:26After the 2018 election of Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro.
20:34It is a fallacy that the Amazon is a heritage of humanity.
20:37And it is also a mistake to say it is the lungs of the world.
20:40Certain countries are using these fallacies, and instead of helping, have started to attack
20:45with lies.
20:46When Jair Bolsonaro was elected, a lot changed.
20:52Deforestation skyrocketed.
20:53There's been a massive rollback in respect for indigenous rights.
20:58And Bolsonaro has regularly, in public, encouraged Amazon deforestation.
21:03He's encouraged the arsonists lighting a lot of the fires.
21:06And he's defamed a lot of the indigenous leaders.
21:10When the head of state is encouraging violence, that sends a very clear message.
21:17According to observers, his administration has effectively given a green light to those who want to destroy
21:24the Amazon for profit, which critics say includes the most powerful man in Itaituba.
21:32At his Riverside mansion, I arrange a meeting with the town's mayor, Valmir Clímaco.
21:43He's not shy about his past as a logger and miner.
21:47According to Clímaco's own election filings, he's the subject of 45 federal criminal citations.
21:54But his trouble with the law hasn't hurt his popularity.
22:04Mayor Clímaco now owns cattle ranches and farms cleared from the rainforest.
22:09Industries responsible for millions of acres of deforestation.
22:13Mayor Clímaco was acquitted of some charges.
22:43Though he still faces pending trials for alleged environmental crimes dating back to 2012.
22:51However, Clímaco doesn't think mining and logging are hurting the Amazon either way.
23:12In the Amazon, this is all a seductive argument for those who stand to make huge profits.
23:18But it doesn't mesh with the reality I've seen in my time here.
23:22The question of mercury has already been done.
23:25The studies have proven that there is a very high-end mercury in Tapajós.
23:30I challenge someone, some doctor, to give a test of a patient, to say that he died from a black
23:38hole.
23:39I've already weighed over half a ton of gold.
23:43I hit the fire. I didn't use a mask, I didn't use anything. I've never felt pain in my throat.
23:50Rather than debating the mayor on the merits of inhaling mercury fumes,
23:55I want to ask him about the slew of killings in the region, including Dorothy Stang, the American nun.
24:13With the help of the FBI, Brazilian authorities eventually convicted two ranchers of orchestrating Dorothy Stang's murder.
24:28So do you think that those who are dead are being killed are being invaded? Are they entering?
24:32No, they're not being invaded. They're coming to incentivize. They're coming to make confusion.
24:38Climaco's own property lies alongside the ancestral territory of the Munduruku indigenous tribe.
24:45For Climaco, letting them manage the land would be the real travesty.
24:50And when I open the possibility of the Indian to deal with the war,
24:55the Indian doesn't have money to buy machinery, the Indian doesn't have the courage to work.
25:07Despite what Mayor Climaco says, Brazil's indigenous people are now some of the most courageous defenders of the Amazon.
25:15Still on the search for illegal loggers, I'm going on patrol with members of the Munduruku indigenous tribe.
25:22We've been going in further and further in for over an hour now.
25:27They're actually looking for signs that there's been illegal activity in this area.
25:44I'm on patrol with the Munduruku tribe, trying to catch illegal loggers in the act.
25:50All these cut branches that you see are clear signs that there's been some sort of illegal activity.
25:55Usually it's illegal loggers that come here and start cutting the branches so they can go through deeper into the
26:00jungle.
26:01Look, here, here.
26:03This is all evidence that the illegal loggers have been here.
26:07You can see a whole structure over there.
26:10This camp has been set up in the short time since the Munduruku last went on patrol.
26:16It's dangerous this work of fiscalization.
26:19We're very seen by the people, both wood and garimper.
26:23Chief Juarez plans to confront the loggers and force them out of Munduruku territory.
26:41It's a bullet case. 38 cal.
26:43No, they're running out of Mutuja.
26:47Uh...
26:47They're burning out of it.
26:49They're burning out of them.
26:50It's very dangerous.
26:52the indigenous people have increasingly come under violent attack garimpeiros
26:58atacaram aldeia indígena na fazenda tapajós o local é residência de uma das principais
27:03lideranças da etnia munduruku um confronto entre garimpeiros ilegais e indígenas deixou
27:09pelo menos cinco feridos garimpeiros portando armas de fogo em sete barcos atiraram contra
27:20indígenas even with the chance of an armed encounter chief juarez says it's time to move
27:25forward they've heard that there's people actually cutting down trees about an hour from here so he
27:30says we should keep going we'll try to go as far as we can as we proceed deeper and deeper
27:39into the
27:40rainforest it's hard not to feel completely exposed criminals could be behind any bend of the river
27:53after another hour on the water the chief stops our boat the loggers have clearly been here
28:06they came in with chainsaws to look for trees like this and they left it behind because they
28:12realized it was actually going to fall into the river
28:16não é só nós que tem que ver isso o mundo tem que olhar pra isso é a nossa amazônia
28:22é por isso que a
28:23tem que cuidar even with fresh evidence of their work the chief says the criminals have slipped away
28:38but two days later I get a new lead after dozens of calls I finally receive a promising message from
28:50a
28:50local contact and a former illegal logger it's the access I've been working on for months but
29:10it's in an area with one of Brazil's highest murder rates I'll be miles and miles from help if anything
29:18goes wrong and as I head out to an undisclosed location I have no idea what or who I might
29:27find
29:28okay this is it
29:36okay funny guys wait let's do it
29:41the boss meets me at the access room and says we need to hurry on to the truck so we're
29:46not spotted
29:47okay so go in the back of the truck
29:57it's not an accident that this is a bumpy ride
30:00loggers cut narrow roads hidden under the forest canopy to throw off aerial surveillance
30:16so we just got stuck the big truck got stuck the truck isn't going anywhere and on top of that
30:29we're suddenly alone the guy who's taking us in just left so we're stuck here
30:36with super muddy and wet everywhere stranded in the middle of the jungle with potentially violent criminals operating in the
30:45area and there's nothing to do but wait
30:59we're stuck here just us and a big illegal logging truck
31:08after 30 minutes our contact returns and he's got some heavy equipment with him
31:14the rainy season is normally a quiet time of the year for the illegal timber tree because of the difficulty
31:19reaching the jungle but these loggers seem to be working harder than ever
31:30but i mean it's incredible it's just in the middle of this thick thick piece of jungle
31:34and there's just this clearing and this is what they've done they've just cleared this all out
31:43the loggers tell me that just yesterday a member of another crew was killed during the part of the process
31:49i'm watching now
31:52they're saying it's incredibly dangerous to be behind where the log is going up because it's common that the cables
31:58will break and it will fall on so a lot of people have been injured and killed when this happens
32:03they're just these like two cables that are pulling the log up to the truck
32:09this is all super sketchy i mean they're barefoot you know they're doing all of this a lot of them
32:14are barefoot
32:18it may not be a high-tech operation but they work fast and efficiently
32:25so they've done all this damage that you see here all this clearing in just the last two weeks
32:29and how many animals are you going to cut today a day we're going to cut about 10-15 animals
32:36and all this is illegal and what would happen to you if you knew that you were going to do
32:42this
32:42we're going to be caught
32:44do you have more fear of who? the police? the ibama? who have more fear of who?
32:48the ibama? the police? the police? they don't have fear of me
32:51why? they take the money and they leave it out
32:55they're not cutting
32:56loggers usually take pains to avoid being caught
32:59the ibama raids mean crippling fines and destroyed equipment
33:03but insiders say the illegal timber trade is operating more openly than in years past
33:10they say they're going to cut down another tree right now
33:15the men tell me how they clear the most valuable trees first
33:20and are quick to spot which ones to cut next
33:31yeah so they're saying that they think it's going to fall that way
33:35but when it does when it cracks that a lot of sort of debris oh my god
33:39you can did you hear that did you hear that so that's it when you fear that first crack
33:44that means the tree is falling it's slowly falling and then you just
34:03wow i mean it's insane you can feel the you can hear the cracks incredibly loud
34:08and then you can feel the whole sort of uh ground shake
34:17knowing that these trees could soon end up in a wood floor or backyard deck
34:21somewhere in the u.s it's hard to stomach
34:32okay let's go see that he's saying we can go and see it the fallen tree
34:56it's not even worth anything which makes this whole thing even more depressing
35:00i mean all of this wasted for for nothing seeing this pointless destruction reminds me of what i
35:07witnessed at the gold mine the amazon is being ravaged based on false hopes by those in the trenches
35:26if there's one thing i've learned from reporting on the world's black markets it's that the people who are
35:31getting their hands dirty often feel like they have no other choice criminals on the bottom rung of the
35:37shadow economy say they're simply trying to survive
35:41antes da gente vir nos avisaram cuidado essa gente é perigosa já ouve ativistas que morreram que foram
35:48mortos assassinados
36:00holding those accountable for the murders in the amazon is seemingly an impossible task
36:07it's no surprise that so many of those killings have gone unpunished
36:12i may never come face to face with those at the top but i have one last way to expose
36:18the amazon mafia
36:20i'm going to follow the timber
36:37under the cover of night the logs i saw being cut down in the amazon earlier are transported here to
36:45this illegal sawmill i still want to understand what happens to timber illegally harvested in the amazon
36:53and if this wood will soon end up in the hands of u.s consumers
36:57in the mountains but nobody at the mill wants to talk
37:03And from here, where are you going?
37:06To the forest?
37:07Yes.
37:08No, I don't know.
37:09I work here.
37:11Do you know if it would be a good job or illegal?
37:16No, I don't know.
37:17If it's a good job, it's not good.
37:20So why are you using the mask?
37:23Because it's better.
37:26Suddenly, I'm told it's time for us to stop filming.
37:30A shipment of cut boards is heading out,
37:33and we've been explicitly warned not to follow.
37:38It's frustrating to leave without tracking this wood any farther.
37:42But I already know where a lot of it is headed.
38:10Sometimes it's a bit of a reveal.
38:13When you look at a shipment like this, and you open it up,
38:15it takes your breath away for a second.
38:18You'd be like, wow, that's not what I was expecting.
38:23And you realize how big some of the wood is.
38:25You do step back, and you put that in perspective.
38:27How old was that tree?
38:29At a warehouse near the port of Houston,
38:31agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection
38:34are inspecting a new shipment from Latin America.
38:39Some of the wood today is raising red flags.
38:42When we look at the documents,
38:43the wood states that it's a certain age.
38:45When we come here and physically look at the wood,
38:47it looks much older than what's on the documents.
38:49Therefore, it probably didn't come from the mill.
38:51It's on the paperwork.
38:52And then we're going to look further into that wood.
38:55As one of the largest timber importers in the world,
38:58the U.S. is a prime target for black market organizations.
39:05But smuggling trees from the Amazon is a federal crime,
39:09in violation of the Lacey Act.
39:11We attempt to catch everything that comes our way.
39:15Due to the pure volume of stuff like that,
39:17most likely stuff does make it through,
39:19but our attempt is to catch everything entering this country.
39:22One estimate now puts the worldwide trade for illegal timber
39:26as high as $152 billion.
39:31We are seeing a larger increase in shipments
39:33coming out of the Amazon than previous years.
39:36So the problem isn't going away.
39:38It's only increasing.
39:56There you go.
40:02There's so much responsibility that we have
40:04to address our own contributions to the climate crisis.
40:07So many of the companies that are based here
40:09are buying and selling the very products
40:12that are produced in deforested parts of the rainforest.
40:15It comes down to how important is it
40:17and how important are we insisting that it be.
40:20I think it makes sense to think about the Amazon
40:22as a canary in the coal mine,
40:24in the sense that if we can't save it, we're doomed.
40:29All these little red dots, that are a lot of them,
40:34all represent deforestation
40:36that has happened in just the last five years.
40:38Exactly.
40:3920% of the Amazon rainforest is already deforested.
40:42So we've reached that level.
40:44If we keep deforested, we may reach a tipping point.
40:49So the death of the Amazon as we know it?
40:51Yes, that's a possible scenario.
40:54Carlos Souza is a researcher
40:56for an environmental nonprofit called Amazon.
40:59Through satellite technology,
41:01they're able to monitor deforestation on a micro level,
41:05including the illegal logging site I witnessed myself.
41:09It's crazy to think that it looked so massive at the time,
41:12and now to think that it's just probably
41:14a little tiny, tiny, tiny little dot.
41:16That's why it's so important to have
41:18a near real-time portion monitor.
41:20Because you can see the most active areas
41:25and go...
41:26Stop it.
41:26...to stop historically.
41:28But we have...
41:28The data is alarming.
41:30Dr. Souza says it should be a wake-up call
41:33for the entire world.
41:34So does that mean that this is it?
41:36We're completely hopeless?
41:37There's nothing we can do about it?
41:39There is hope.
41:40First, we have to make sure that they're not purchasing
41:43anything from the Amazon that's linked
41:45to illegal deforestation.
41:46And then we need more international awareness
41:50about the problem to convince Brazil
41:52to change this path to destruction.
41:58The good news is that it's not too late.
42:01And there are still those on the ground fighting against deforestation.
42:06Looking at the Amazon from high above,
42:09it's striking that there are these islands of intact forest.
42:13When you get closer, you notice that many of those areas
42:16are indigenous lands.
42:19Before leaving the Amazon, I return to one of those islands,
42:22the Munduruku territory.
42:25I reunite with tribal leader and activist Alessandra Munduruku.
42:31Tonight, the village is having a meeting
42:33to discuss how they can fight back against a new bill
42:36proposed by the Bolsonaro government.
42:42The bill would open up mining in protected areas
42:45like the Munduruku territory.
43:01The Amazon's hundreds of indigenous tribes
43:05have survived conquest, smallpox, enslavement, and assimilation.
43:10And the future of our planet might depend on them,
43:13standing in the way of the Amazon Mafia.
43:45But for the Munduruku, stopping powerful criminal networks alone
43:49is too much to ask.
43:52Foreign governments will have to supply pressure.
43:55And consumers will have to investigate
43:58where the products they buy come from.
44:00And if we are helping to protect the Amazon,
44:04we'll destroy it.