Reuters exclusively reports Brazil stepping up deforestation fight with oil company’s corruption settlement

Reuters reported exclusively that Brazilian states are bolstering the fight against destruction of the Amazon rainforest with millions of dollars from an oil company’s corruption settlement that allows them to partially compensate for weakening environmental protections under President Jair Bolsonaro. State environmental agencies will have a one-off windfall that Reuters calculates will total at least 140 million reais ($27 million). The cash, which comes from a massive settlement payment from state-run oil firm Petrobras, will be spent on patrol officers, jeeps, surveillance technology and other outlays to protect the rainforest.