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JUDY WOODRUFF: South America's 
Amazon rain forest is home 
to a remarkable diversity of

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animal and plant life.

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But a record-breaking number 
of forest fires and the already 
ongoing cutting down of trees

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is putting many of the 
rain forest's original 
inhabitants at risk.

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With the support of the 
Pulitzer Center, Amna Nawaz and 
producer Mike Fritz traveled to

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Central Brazil to see the 
efforts under way to save one 
of the most pristine sections

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of the Amazon.

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It is the last part of our 
series Brazil on the Brink.

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS, Instituto 
Araguaia: So, all these tracks 
are probably puma tracks.

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AMNA NAWAZ: In this corner 
of the Amazon Basin in 
Central Brazil, signs 
of life are everywhere.

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AMNA NAWAZ: So, just by looking 
at the tracks like this, you 
have a better sense of what

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actually lives in this area?

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: Yes.

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We get a sense of what lives 
in this area, of what is more 
abundant and what's rare.

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And then we start getting a 
sense of, OK, which habitat 
do we need to protect more of?

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AMNA NAWAZ: George Georgiadis is 
a Brazilian scientist fighting 
to protect everything that

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lives here, animals like giant 
river otters, pink dolphins, 
rarely seen jungle cats like

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jaguars, and hundreds 
of species of birds.

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So their survival is dependent 
on the survival of this area?

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: Their 
survival is dependent on 
the survival of this area.

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AMNA NAWAZ: But climate change 
and the steady destruction of 
the Amazon's rain forest and

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the surrounding savanna, 
known as the Cerrado, 
has made George's mission 
all the more dire.

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: We have 
lost probably half the natural 
habitat of this area since 2013.

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Things are going fast.

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AMNA NAWAZ: How long do we have?

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What do you think?

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: Oh, 
it's already past time.

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We're just picking 
up the pieces.

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AMNA NAWAZ: To save what they 
could, George and his wife, 
Silvana Campello, helped the

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Brazilian state of Tocantins 
create Cantao State 
Park in 1998, a nearly 
350-square-mile-stretch

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of pristine forest and 
grasslands nestled between the 
Araguaia and Coconut rivers.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO, Instituto 
Araguaia: We fell in 
love for this place, 
because, as biologists,

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we could understand how 
important this place is.

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AMNA NAWAZ: The couple 
houses visiting researchers, 
who run long-term studies 
and use motion-activated

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cameras to better understand 
what animals actually live here 
and what they need to survive.

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Some, like the giant otters, 
have even been saved from 
the brink of extinction.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: We have 
placed a camera trap.

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So we're going to go there and 
check the camera trap and see 
if there has been any activity.

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AMNA NAWAZ: And tracking them, 
Silvana says, has led to new 
discoveries about the way they

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live and interact 
with each other.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: We 
have been finding also 
interesting behavior 
that hasn't been reported

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in science.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Really?

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: Yes.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Among the otters?

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: 
Among the otters.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Like what?

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: Like, 
for example, den sharing.

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A certain group of otters will 
occupy a den for couple of 
weeks, and then they will leave,

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and another group will 
come and use the same den.

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And then the group will leave, 
and the former owners would 
come back and live in that same

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den.

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AMNA NAWAZ: It's like an 
Airbnb for giant otters.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: It's like 
an Airbnb for giant otters.

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(LAUGHTER)

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AMNA NAWAZ: For all the focus 
on the threats to the Amazon 
rain forest, Silvana says it's

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the animals that are the 
best bioindicator of a 
changing environment.

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Millions of insects, 
thousands of known plants, 
fish and birds and hundreds 
of mammals, reptiles

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and amphibians call 
this area home.

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You know, one out of every 10 
known species in the entire 
planet lives in the Amazon.

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That's plants, and 
insects, and animals.

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Scientists say new ones 
are actually discovered 
all the time, which is 
why they say they're

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worried that, for every acre 
lost, an entire species could 
disappear right along with it.

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That's why Silvana says it's 
crucial to not only protect 
this area for the animals that

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live here, but for 
humans as well.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: 
It's the card effect.

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People say that nature 
is like a house of cards.

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If we start losing species, 
it's like removing a card 
from the house of cards.

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Eventually, there will be a 
point when the planet will 
collapse, because everybody has

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a role.

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Everybody's here for a 
purpose, the purpose meaning 
the balance of the planet.

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THOMAS LOVEJOY, Ecologist: The 
single greatest repository of 
the variety of life on Earth

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is in the Amazon.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Thomas Lovejoy is 
an ecologist at George Mason 
University who's been coming

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to and studying the 
Amazon since the 1960s.

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THOMAS LOVEJOY: The Amazon 
actually makes this planet work.

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It affects the climate.

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It affects the 
hydrological cycles.

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And all these species that, 
added up, become biological 
diversity, all have evolutionary

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histories that go back 
four billion years.

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AMNA NAWAZ: But the Amazon's 
incredibly rich biodiversity is 
now under assault from several

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different fronts.

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Nearly 20 percent of it has 
been deforested since the 1970s, 
cleared out to make way for

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infrastructure projects, 
mining and agriculture.

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That destruction is having 
a devastating impact on 
the ecosystem, and many 
of the rain forest's

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original inhabitants.

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It's estimated that hundreds 
of species in Brazil are now 
facing the threat of extinction.

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: As we 
lose species, the next 
generation will not miss them.

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But if you show them, if you 
bring people to see giant 
otters, for example, here, or

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pink dolphins, if they 
see them, if they relate 
to them, they care now.

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We must care now, 
before they go.

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AMNA NAWAZ: But the 
monumental effort to 
repopulate and regrow what 
has already been lost in the

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Amazon is slowly beginning, 
and some of the solutions might 
be found in this small storage

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facility in Canarana, Brazil.

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MAN (through translator): The 
muvuca comes from 60 to 120 
species of seeds that we work

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with.

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AMNA NAWAZ: It's called muvuca, 
a planting technique that 
uses native forest seeds to

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be spread over burnt 
or deforested land.

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The method was developed 
with input from the 
Xingu indigenous tribe.

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BRUNA FERREIRA, Xingu Seed 
Network (through translator): 
The importance of involving them

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is because they have been here.

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It is their call.

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They are holders of the 
knowledge of these species.

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They know what will 
germinate well.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Bruna Ferreira is 
the manager of the Xingu Seed 
Network, a cooperative between

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indigenous communities, 
local farmers and NGOs 
that started in 2007.

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BRUNA FERREIRA (through 
translator): This 
is the job of ants.

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But the seed network is the 
largest network in Brazil, and 
nobody does work like this.

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AMNA NAWAZ: The hope is that 
the forest will slowly regrow 
with stronger, more durable

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plants and trees.

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It's all part of a larger effort 
using native seeds that aims 
to eventually plant millions

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of trees.

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BRUNA FERREIRA (through 
translator): Today, there are 
600 collectors of native seeds.

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And the network helped to 
recuperate and restore more than 
5,000 hectares of degraded areas

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below the Xingu 
and Amazon rivers.

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AMNA NAWAZ: For some Xingu 
tribal members, like Abeldo 
Xavante, a 21-year-old who now

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works for the Seed 
Network, regrowing the 
forest is essential to 
preserving the past.

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ABELDO XAVANTE, Xingu Tribal 
Member (through translator): 
We came from the forest, and,

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today, nobody else from my 
tribe lives in the forest.

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We live in the savanna.

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And young people do not know 
the seeds, and they no longer 
want to eat forest fruits and

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other foods from our culture.

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They want white man's 
food, sweets and sodas.

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So we must rebuild the forest, 
so that we can live there again.

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AMNA NAWAZ: There's also a push 
to have local Brazilian farmers, 
like Nedio Goldoni, conserve

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more of their land.

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Goldoni owns a cattle 
ranch outside of Canarana.

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About 10 years ago, in order 
to comply with deforestation 
laws, he allowed the Xingu Seed

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Network to work on his property.

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NEDIO GOLDONI, Farmer (through 
translator): We need to 
produce, because you have a lot

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of human beings 
who need to be fed.

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But, also, we have to preserve 
what needs to be preserved.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Back in Cantao, 
scientist George Georgiadis 
says that, even with new efforts

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to stop deforestation, 
pristine areas like this 
will likely disappear.

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You have conceded that it 
will mostly be destroyed?

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: It 
will mostly be destroyed.

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AMNA NAWAZ: So why even fight 
to save what you can now?

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GEORGE GEORGIADIS: Because 
you have to know the 
limit of what you can do.

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It's like the barbarians 
are burning the library.

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You can save a couple of books 
and hide them under your shirt.

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That's what you can save.

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You have got to be 
optimistic and do it.

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If you're like, but they're 
burning the whole library, 
what's the point, then you don't

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even save those two books.

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And then, in 1,000 years, when 
people learn how to read again, 
there's not going be anything.

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So you have to have 
a different attitude.

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AMNA NAWAZ: But Georgia 
and Silvana hope a 
different attitude will 
also help save areas

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like Cantao and the animals 
that call this remarkable place 
home for as long as possible.

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Silvana, you have been studying 
these animals for years and 
years, and you still talk about

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them with, like, 
a sense of wonder.

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Does it still excite you to 
come out and try to find them?

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: 
Oh, definitely.

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It's like talking about 
somebody you love.

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You never lose your 
enthusiasm when there is love.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Even all 
these years later?

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SILVANA CAMPELLO: All these 
years later, and - - and more.

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(LAUGHTER)

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AMNA NAWAZ: For the "PBS 
NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz 
in Tocantins, Brazil.