Who does the Amazon belong to?

Wildfires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest are burning at a record rate. It’s caused global anger and anxiety with more than three million people sharing the hashtag #PrayforAmazonia. Criticism has been directed at the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for failing to protect the rainforest and rejecting $22 million of aid money.

In this episode we look at who has ownership over the Amazon and other places of environmental importance like the Arctic. We speak to Jon Lee Anderson, a journalist at the New Yorker Magazine who has been visiting indigenous people in Brazil for years. We also hear from BBC journalist Camilla Veras Mota who last week travelled to see the fires in Porto Velho. And Juliana Gragnani from the BBC’s Brazilian service tells us what Brazilians make of all the outside attention and who they blame for the fires.

Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Andy Mills. Editor: John Shields.