"Brazil, India and the United States are the hotspots of COVID-era green policy rollbacks, said researchers"
"RIO DE JANEIRO - At least 22 countries enacted or proposed changes during the coronavirus pandemic that weaken environmental regulation, endangering protected areas around the globe, according to a research paper published on Thursday.
Brazil, India and the United States are the hotspots of COVID-era rollbacks, said the paper, part of a wider report published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on how protected areas were affected by the pandemic.
"During a time when all eyes were obviously on COVID ... you had governments reducing budgets or weakening environmental protection," said Mariana Napolitano Ferreira, head of science at WWF Brazil and one of 150 researchers who wrote the report."
Fabio Teixeira reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation March 11, 2021.
