Fireproofing the Amazon

Wildfire on degraded pastureland on the fringes of Paragominas on Nov 13, 2025. After four decades of research, a scientist returns to the Amazon in an effort to change the behaviour that has lead to years of environmental crisis. — Dado Galdieri/The New York Times

DANIEL Nepstad first set fire to the Amazon rainforest in 1985.

He was a young researcher then, studying how tropical forests remained so lush even during the dry season.