How Brazil's fear of losing the Amazon guides Bolsonaro's policies towards the forest

In 2000, when the internet in Brazil was still in its infancy, an email with an alarming message about the Amazon went viral. It claimed that the United States and the United Nations had taken the forest from Brazilians and transformed it into a protected area -- a falsehood, but one that reflected a long-running conspiracy theory still promoted today by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The email described a purported geography textbook being used in "important American schools," which labeled the Amazon as an "international control zone." Next to a map, a misspelled text said that the forest was "surrounded by irresponsable, cruel, and authoritary countries" and that the United States and the United Nations, with the backing of the "G23," transformed it into "an international park with very severe rules of exploration." "The value of this area is unable to calcule," it continued, "but the planet can be cert that The United States won't let these Latin American countries explorate and destroy this real ownership of all humanity."