International

‘We can’t live in a world without the Amazon’: scientist

AFP

Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster universities, is one of the most prominent scientists studying how the rainforest functions when humans throw it off balance.

AFP asked the 38-year-old Brazilian to break down the latest research on the Amazon and what it means for us all.

– There are lots of headlines on the destruction of the Amazon. What does the science say? –

“The results are truly horrifying. They are in line with discussions about the ‘tipping point’ (at which the rainforest would die off and turn from carbon absorber to carbon emitter).

“One study found that in the southeast of the Amazon in the dry season, the temperature has increased by 2.5 degrees Celsius (over the past 40 years). That is truly apocalyptic.

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“I don’t think even academics were prepared for that. The Paris deal is trying to limit the world to 1.5 degrees; 2.5 in the Amazon is huge.

“And in the northeast Amazon, we’ve seen a decrease of 34 percent in precipitation in peak dry season (from August to October).

“The implication of all this is that if you have a hotter and dryer climate, fires are just going to escape more into the forest. So it gets into this feedback loop, this vicious cycle of horror.”

– Can we still save the Amazon? What happens if we don’t? –

“That’s the million-dollar question. We’ll never know the tipping point until we’re past it. That’s the definition of a tipping point. But different parts of the Amazon are speeding up toward it at different paces.

“If we pass the tipping point, it’s the end. And I don’t say that lightly. We’re talking about the most biodiverse place on the planet collapsing.

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“Millions and millions of people becoming climate refugees. Rainfall patterns being disrupted across South America.

“Without rainfall, we don’t have hydroelectricity, so it means the collapse of industry in Brazil, and therefore the collapse of one of the largest economies in the world, of one of the biggest food suppliers in the world.

“We cannot live in a world without the Amazon.”

– Your WhatsApp profile picture has the word ‘hope’ written in big letters. What keeps you hopeful for the Amazon? –

“Chocolate (laughs).

“But really, there is definitely hope for change. Within my lifetime, I saw a decrease of more than 80 percent in deforestation, between 2004 and 2012. It wasn’t easy.

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“You require coordination between several (government) agencies. But they did it. So why can’t we see it again?

“Globally, there are several levels of solutions for everyone in the world. Everybody has to reduce their carbon footprint. Nobody’s going to go back to living in a cave, but we all need to have a deep reflection on what we can do.

“We also need to pressure for transparency on commodities that come from Amazonia. Know where your gold is coming from, know where your beef is coming from.

“But most importantly, we need to insist on structural changes. We need to pressure our governments and corporations to cut emissions.”

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International

MEPs Approve Plan That Could Fast-Track Rejection of Some Asylum Claims

With an overwhelming majority of 408 votes in favor, the European Parliament backed the creation of a list of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers.

People coming from Colombia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia who apply for asylum in the European Union could see their requests rejected on the grounds that the bloc’s 27 member states consider those nations safe. Applicants would have to prove their individual circumstances, showing evidence of persecution or specific risks if they were to return.

At the same time, while their applications are processed or their return is arranged, migrants could be transferred to third countries outside the EU if the bloc has an agreement with them, if the individuals previously transited through those nations, or if they have family or cultural ties there. The measure provides legal cover for the creation of processing centers beyond EU territory, similar to an initiative previously pursued by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Albania.

Tuesday’s vote reflects the tightening of European migration policy in recent years, despite asylum applications having fallen by more than 20% last year and the issue not ranking among citizens’ top concerns, according to recent surveys.

International

Chile Unveils Latam-GPT to Give Latin America Its Own AI Model

Chile on Tuesday launched Latam-GPT, an initiative aimed at providing Latin America with its own artificial intelligence model in a field largely dominated by U.S. companies, while seeking to reduce biases identified in existing systems.

The project is led by Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), a private corporation funded with public resources.

Latam-GPT is backed by universities, foundations, libraries, government agencies and civil society organizations from across the region, including Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.

“Thanks to Latam-GPT we are positioning the region as an active and sovereign player in the economy of the future. We are at the table — we are not on the menu,” President Gabriel Boric said during the presentation of the initiative on national broadcaster Televisión Nacional.

The tool aims to break down prejudices and prevent Latin America from being portrayed as a single, uniform reality, Chile’s science minister, Aldo Valle, told AFP.

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The region, he added, “cannot be merely a user or passive recipient of artificial intelligence systems. That could result in losing a significant part of our traditions.”

Despite its name, the initiative is not an interactive chatbot. Instead, it is a large regional database trained on Latin American information that can be used to develop technological applications, the minister explained.

International

Mexico Rises Slightly to 141st in Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2025

Mexico improved by one point in its rating and climbed to 141st place in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published Tuesday by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International, which gave the country a score of 27 out of 100.

The slight increase in score comes after Mexico recorded its lowest CPI result in history in 2024 during the final year of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, also scoring 27 out of 100. The CPI is widely regarded as the main global measure of perceived public-sector corruption, where 0 represents high corruption and 100 denotes very low corruption.

Within the region, Mexico ranks above only Guatemala (26), Paraguay (24), Honduras (22), Haiti (16), Nicaragua (14) and Venezuela (10), but trails key economic peers such as Brazil (35) and Chile (63).

Among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexico ranks last. In the G20 grouping, it sits in the penultimate position, ahead of only Russia. Experts say Mexico’s persistently low score reflects ongoing challenges in curbing corruption and protecting public funds.

Transparency International’s report also highlights structural corruption issues that have allowed organized crime to infiltrate politics and weaken governance, as well as risks to journalists covering corruption.