Dhaka, Nov. 7 -- Deciding to host a conference for 50,000 people in a small city in the Amazon rainforest was always going to be a controversial decision but Brazil is determined to carry it off. The powerhouse of Latin America, with 213 million people, Brazil is the world's 10th biggest economy and has risen to become the eighth biggest exporter of oil and gas. But its defining feature is the Amazon rainforest, imperilled by the climate crisis and suffering record droughts, wildfires and the continuing depredations of ranchers and soy planters, but still the lungs of the world and a hotspot for biodiversity.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leads a governing coalition drawn from opposing ends of the political spectrum after his narrow presi...