Mongabay: Twenty-five years ago today, Chico Mendes, an Amazon rubber tapper, was shot and killed in front of his family at his home in Acre, Brazil at the age of 44.
His assassination was the catalyst that sparked a much broader movement to protect the Amazon against rampant deforestation. The movement empowered a new generation of forest people and activists and would eventually culminate in millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest being set aside in reserves.
But while the deforestation rate has...