Nine former Brazilian environment ministers this month issued a written appeal to Germany, France and Norway for help amid “the double calamity” Covid-19 is visiting on public health and the environment in Brazil. The Jan. 26 letter, to French President Emmanuel Macron, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and their embassies in Brazil, was signed by all but three of the former environment ministers to serve since September 1992. It specifically asks for donations of medical equipment to provide “immediate help to Amazon populations,” underscoring how Covid-19 has pounded the region’s indigenous peoples and threatened their vital links to the land. “[W]ith over 30 million inhabitants, the Brazilian Amazon suffers from problems that make it particularly vulnerable to the pandemic due to its isolation, poverty, poor public health structure and difficult access,” the ministers argue. “This situation is aggravated by the disperse... [Log in to read more]