luciana: the world are eating amazon as beef, as a soybean, as a corn. host: the amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate. is brazil alone to blame, or all of us? and what can we do to stop it? till death do us part -- in the philippines, marriage is still forever. no interviews, no questions -- a company in the usa gives work to those who'd otherwise struggle to get it. ♪

reporter: what if i told you the country responsible for this was once great at fighting deforestation? in recent years, one man has become synonymous with destruction in the brazilian amazon -- former president jair bolsonaro. his lax policies allowed swaths of rainforest to be razed to the ground. luciana: during the last four years, the amazon was a place without law. reporter: but it wasn't always this bad. in fact, brazil was once good at protecting its forests. the country previously reduced deforestation in the amazon by 80% over the course of eight years. this downward trend started in the early 2000's under president luiz inácio lula da silva. most just know him as lula. and now, bolsonaro is out and lula is back. but brazil has changed

dramatically in the last decades. so, will the country be able to combat deforestation again? here's the thing -- what brazilian politicians decide to do with their part of the amazon concerns us all. even if bolsonaro says --. fmr. pres. bolsonaro: the amazon is ours, not yours. reporter: of course, the most affected are the millions of people living there. and the hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species. but the amazon also plays a vital role in absorbing enormous amounts of co2. that keeps the gas from heating the atmosphere and making scenes like these more and more common around the world. luciana: it's a buffer for climate change. but deforesting amazon, we are destroying our buffer. that is accelerating the climate change, the extreme events. reporter: this is luciana gatti, a senior researcher with brazil's national institute for space research.

she found that the amazon has been destroyed to such an extent that it's now emitting more carbon than it takes in. that's partly because the fires used to clear the forest release tons of it. luciana: if we don't stop it immediately, this process, we will lose this part of the amazon forest. it will become the tipping point. reporter: oof, ok, that sounds depressing. i promise we're getting to the solutions. but first we need to understand what has allowed us to deforest 17% of the brazilian amazon. here's a clue -- it's a moneymaker. and this goes all the way back to the 1970's. at that point the rainforest was largely untouched. but the military regime that was in power pursued an agenda of nationalism and economic development. it decided exploiting its biggest forest was the way to boost brazil's economy. ilona: the military in brazil saw the region as a region to be conquered. reporter: ilona szabó is the president of instituto igarapé, a think tank

specializing in climate and security issues. ilona: the government was paying for people to go to the amazon and basically said whatever you can deforest will be yours. reporter the regime did this to convince people to settle in a forest it considered to be uninhabited, though of course there were indigenous communities there. it built a massive highway to make it easier to navigate across the amazon, and incentivized brazilians to move there to log for timber and raise cattle. over the coming decades, these businesses pved to be ry lucrate. escially bause more and more people were eating meat around the world. and farmers needed lots of protein-rich soy to feed their livestock. so the rainforest had to continue making space for cattle pastures and soy fields. and as laws became stricter, land clearing also happened illegally. but then, in 2003, came a turning point. lula took office as president at a time when deforestation was soaring.

he appointed a minister, marina silva, who really put the rainforest on the agenda, with immense success. from 2004 to 2012, deforestation in the amazon went down by 80%. there are three major components that made this happen. first, a massive expansion of protected areas. the administration added millions of hectares to be preserved. by 2010, more than 40% of the amazon was officially under protection. these areas include conservation units and indigenous territories. designating new indigenous territories was especially important because they've been shown to conserve the forest very successfully. adriana: indigenous communities have been managing these territories for centuries. reporter: this is adriana ramos. she coordinates the ngo instituto socioambiental, which focuses on environmental and indigenous rights. adriana: so, the way indigenous people in other traditional communities deal with the forest is what makes the forest important for us. reporter: in general, all the new protections worked as a huge

deterrent. adriana: because once you have a protected area, the expectation that one will make money with that land will end. reporter: but that didn't mean people could deforest all they wanted in unprotected areas. here, landowners could only farm on 20% of their territories. and to ensure this, the government ramped up its monitoring. it improved its satellite system to detect deforestation in real time. and it gave better training to environmental authorities and law enforcement to crack down on illegal activities. the final step was to tackle the supply chains. this only became a talking point due to pressure from civil society. greenpeace had published studies linking deforestation in the amazon to soy and beef bought by major food companies. the public outcry paid off. it resulted in the soy moratorium and the beef moratorium, voluntary agreements between big food producers to stop buying these goods from newly deforested areas. the soy moratorium was

especially successful. it's estimated to have saved 18,000 square kilometers of forest over a decade. you might wonder, how did this affect the economy in the amazon? well, it still kept growing. agricultural production actually went up as deforestation decreased. that's because farmers were not using their land efficiently before, and pastures often remained empty. soon, they were forced to plant crops in some of these underused pastures and stock more cattle on them. if this all sounds too good to be true, it's because it was. around 2013, deforestation rates started climbing again. during a time of political turmoil, conservative allies of the agribusiness had pushed to weaken the laws protecting forests. and big infrastructure projects were creeping into the amazon, too. like this hydroelectric dam approved by none other than lula. he said it was necessary for brazil's energy supply. but it was in 2019 that things really started looking bad for the rainforest. jair bolsonaro

took office. and his far-right platform included lots of anti-environment rhetoric. fmr. pres. bolsonaro: oh, those environmental people. if i can, i will confine them to the amazon one day, since they like the environment so much. reporter: remember the paradigm from the 19's that deforesting was key to boosting the economy? it came back. bolsonaro publicly pushed for more mining in indigenous territories. and his administration weakened the environmental enforcement agencies, shrinking their budgets and pushing out staff. this created a climate of impunity. ilona: that really opened the space for the consolidation of the criminal activities that were already there, but then that were coupled with much more organized criminal networks, much more resources from other illicit economies. reporter: the illegal destruction of the amazon increasingly became part of sophisticated networks trafficking drugs, guns, and laundering money. as a result, deforestation rates soared over the next four years. luciana: it's really hard.

we are observing humanity walking faster to the collapse. reporter: but bolsonaro was not reelected. lula beat him with a razor-thin margin in 2022. and one of the first things he did was go to the u.n. climate talks and announce --. pres. lula: brazil is back. reporter: he immediately sent more law enforcement into the field to stop loggers and land grabbers. in january 2023, deforestation was already down 61% on the same month the year before. but that doesn't mean it will be an easy path. brazil has changed a lot since lula first took office 20 years ago. eduardo: it's a different country. no doubt about it. reporter: this is eduardo viola from the university of são paulo. he's referring to a set of new challenges, like rebuilding all the institutions bolsonaro's administtion dismantled. ilona: the description of the people that are taking office is that they found what is unthinkable in terms of the lack of information, of the history of

what happened, the level of public servants that asked to leave. reporter: the good news is that lula's former environment minister has agreed to come back. but now her ministry will face rainforestroded beyond recognition, filled with sprawling criminal networks and illegal landing strips for their planes. another hurdle will be to counter the powerful agribusiness lobby. while lula won the presidency, he doesn't necessarily have congress on his side. eduardo: these forces in favor of illegal activity in the amazon are much more strong politically at the local level and the state level than they were 20 years ago. reporter: we have seen in the past that they're capable of getting laws weakened. and the industry will continue having this political influence as long as it profits off the rocket-high demand for brazilian agriculture. luciana: the world is eating amazon as beef, as a soybean, as a corn. people, please stop buying this

from the amazon. help us. reporter: these challenges are real and they are significant. but lula's administration also faces a set of opportunities. the opportunity to improve land productivity and farm more efficiently. to boost green economies that use the region's resources without depleting them or cutting down trees. that includes commercializing more products native to the forest and eco-tourism. brazil can also share its knowledge and successes with other forest giants like indonesia or the democratic republic of congo. ilona: i hope we go back to the world scene not only as a green power, but as a generous one that will bring others along. reporter: this step is crucial because we may not be able to put a price tag on saving our rainforests. but we will pay the price if we don't. announcer: um, what was the problem with co2 again?

[burps and farts] dinosaurs were really gassy creatures, which might explain why there was up to 16-times more co2 in the atmosphere when they roamed the planet. so back then, earth was much warmer on average. and there was just one big continent called pangea. but then it broke apart. this caused many volcanoes to spew more co2 into the atmosphere. that probably triggered a mass extinction, killing around 80% of all living organisms. emitting huge amounts of co2 warms the planet faster than it can adapt. and today we're doing at the volcanoes did back then. maybe we should learn from our past. host: fall in love, get engaged, get married, and then live happily ever after. hmm, that bubble burst a good while ago. divorce rates have been on the rise worldwide since 1970, though it varies a lot from

region to region. in almost all countries though, divorce is allowed. almost all, that is. reporter: a mass wedding on a grand scale. in march 2023, 2023 couples exchanged marriage vows on one day. the city of bacolod, on the philippine island of negros, made it easy for couples to tie the knot. couples like miky and john, both in their mid-20's, for whom the wedding was free of charge. like many here, they couldn't have afforded the ceremony otherwise. john and miky said this was the most important day of their lives. the more lavish the ceremony, the better. the elaborate mass wedding is a huge celebration, to mark a decision that's for life.

because, for now at least, divorce is not an option in the philippines, where marriage is held in very high regard. john: finally, we're officially a couple. miky: i'm happy that i can now take his name. reporter: getting married is easy. getting divorced, impossible. april tadios would like nothing more than to get divorced. but the law prohibits it. the 41-year-old has to provide for her daughter on her own. her husband left her years ago. since then, juliana has hardly seen her father, and her memory of him is fading. a few photos in the family album are all that remains since he went to seek work abroad, as so many do here. he later broke off all contact.

no divorce means no requirement to pay child support. april: i'm afraid that i won't be able to give her everything she needs. when she asks me for something, i say, “be patient, we can't afford it at the moment, we don't have any money right now.” she understands that. then she says, “mommy, that's ok.” fortunately, my daughter is very kind, so we don't have any problems with each other. reporter: “what god has joined together, let no one separate.” this phrase from the bible is enshrined in law in only two countries worldwide, the vatican and the philippines. father jerome secillano says divorce is not the way to solve relationship problems. he sees the philippines as a beacon in the darkness, rather than a country that's trailing others in its development. jerome: the circumstances are different from these countries compared

to ours. so we don't need to be like them. so i guess we should even be proud that here we are sticking to it, and now that we are protecting marriage as an institution. so, no to divorce. reporter: the only way out accepted by the church and the state is an annulment, where the marriage is treated as having never existed. but it's a lengthy process that only the wealthy can afford. there have been many attempts at reform in the past, but all have fallen foul of the philippines' complicated political system. veteran lawmaker edcel lagman often champions the cause of the disadvantaged, and has put forward a bill that permits divorce in certain cases. he's confident it will eventually become law. edcel: while marriages are supposed to be solemnized in heaven, many

plummet into hell because of human frailty. and because of this, many are in infernal agony, more particularly abused women and abandoned women. we would have to give a lifeline to these couples in distress. reporter: april tadios earns what she can from babysitting, but struggles to make ends meet. it's been eight years now since her husband left. he doesn't support her or their daughter, but the law still states she must remain married to him. thankfully, when things get really bad, she does at least have relatives who help out. april: it's sad for those who finally want to get away from their ex-partners but can't because

they're still married on paper. wherever you go, his name goes with you. but when i found out there's a chance that i might be able to divorce in the future, i felt hope again. hope that one day i will be able to file the papers and that we will be separated for good. reporter: for john and miky, getting married means they can start a new independent life together. the philippines is quite a conservative country, where the values of the catholic church are still cherished by many. john: i don't like divorce. you need to take the time and be fully sure about your partner before you get married. if you're not sure, then don't get married. it's as simple as that. miky:

i think divorce is ok. even if you've known someone for a long time, you don't always know what they're thinking and what's going on inside them. and you can't predict what the future holds. reporter: should they one day no longer be so happy together, it's possible they won't have to stay together any longer than they want to. host: after china, the u.s. has the most prison inmates worldwide, as well as hundreds of thousands of homeless people. don't they deserve a chance? reporter: shawna swanson ensures that everything runs like clockwork, and the quality is up to scratch. each brownie must be perfect, not too thin or too light. like many employees here, she has no high school diploma and no formal training, yet she's a supervisor now.

have a work history and they don't want to hire you because you don't have the experience. but what people don't understand is, you've got to get the experience in order to have it, you know? and if you don't give people a chance, they're still going to be stuck in the background, struggling. reporter: shawna knows what it means to struggle. pregnant at 16, she left school early. she applied for countless jobs, but got only rejections, and lived in fear the authorities would take away her four children. but then came the call from the bakery that changed everything. shawna: that was -- it was like -- i'll never forget, because at that point i'd been told “no” so many times. so, i was at a point where i was desperate. reporter: the fact that things could have reached that stage is still painful, even today. shawna: i'm so sorry. i just feel like i owe them my life, because if i would have

had to break my family apart, i don't know how i could have made it. you know, or because they made one bad mistake in life. i just needed a chance, and greyston gave it to me. reporter: yonkers, on new york's hudson river. here, over 40 years ago, a zen buddhist came up with an unusual business idea -- do good while earning money. give people jobs without asking for a cv, references, or a drug test. joseph kenner used to work on wall street. today, he's the ceo of greyston, and a big fan of its open hiring policy. all job seekers have to do it is put their name on the waitlist. positions are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. joseph: our tagline is “we don't hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire people.” and the whole focus is on the person. how can we bring folks into the workforce? how can we bring folks into the economic mainstream? and that's how many of our

partners, whether it's the body shop or now ikea, are learning that this is an opportunity for them, to not just do something good for others, but really do something good for the organization. reporter: after spending four years in jail, dion drew thought he had no future. until he started a new life at greyston 14 years ago. he's gone from being a young drug dealer to being shawna swanson's boss, and telling people about his career path at international conferences. dion: this was my first job ever. but i think i would rather work in this type of environment and around my peoples, because i want to see other people grow. like, i started from the production line and i worked my way up to senior supervisor. i grew up with him, andre de andre. i've known him since we were about eight years old. we grew up in the same projects. to see him, with a similar background going back and forth to jail, now he's here working as a mixer, he's a mixer.

we'd have never thought we'd be working. so this, i'd rather be doing this. it's a beautiful atmosphere. reporter: 21 tons of brownies are baked here each day. most of them are delivered to ben & jerry's, where they wind up in chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, one of the american's brand's most popular flavors. many workers here have done time in prison. bernard anderson served a long sentence for robbery. but now he's one of greyston's most loyal employees. it's his dream job, and his children love it too. bernard: my kids, where's your father at? and all they could tell them, “oh, he's back in jail.” now when they ask about me, they can tell them, “no, he's at work,” or “he's home.” and that's what it means to me. shawna: he's doing things that they didn't get the opportunity to do. and he's sticking with it. these people have been here for years, at lot of them, and it shows that they are devoted. you know, they really just needed a chance. reporter:

it's lunch time for the early shift. dion is always in the thick of things. he does the scheduling and learns what's bothering people, who's having problems at home and who needs support. greyston works together with social workers to get them help. dion: they want everybody to be happy, smiling, get the tasks done. come in here and be really dedicated to their job. if the atmosphere, the morale is down, people just come in here just to get their hours and make their money. reporter: shawna's workday is done. now she has time for her children, and a reunion with a former colleague. emelia okoampa-ansah has achieved her dream of opening her own bistro. business is booming, but like many restaurants, she's having trouble finding enough staff. emelia: i'm struggling with staffing, right? so i'm thinking, can i do what greyston is doing, too? like, having people with

nothing, knowing nothing about what i'm doing. and i've tried it. and i'm still trying it, to get people of that kind. reporter: shawna's children don't know how desperate their mother was before she started working at the bakery. but they have noticed money's not so tight anymore. andré: i may really get a lot more than what i used to. a lot more now than before. like, games. shawna: it was harder to spend time with them. now i can actually spend some time, i can make sure homework is done. it's those little things that i get a little more of now, with the change in position. reporter: her job at greyston has completely transformed shawna swanson's life. she says she was lucky. but she feels there ought to be more companies for whom people's future counts more than their past. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption

content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ anchor: this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, shocking threats from the head of the wagner mercenary group that says he will confront russia's defense minister and military leaders are telling the public lies about the war in ukraine. we bring you more about his latest claims. also tonight, questions around the catastrophic submersible implosion. officials grappling with who was responsible for investigating the catastrophe that killed all five people on board deep in the north atlantic.