Fires in the Amazon: Sovereignty in the Global Era

In our increasingly interconnected world, we face serious challenges that ignore borders and require a collective response. This has enormous implications for the principle of Sovereignty -- that countries should be able to freely control what happens within their territory. Now, countries might have to give up some of their sovereignty, or violate others', in order to address these global problems.

For example, one of the largest collective challenges we face is climate change. When one country emits additional CO2, it can accelerate climate change for every other country. The traditional principle of Sovereignty suggests that each country should be able to do as it pleases; but, at the same time, that one country is interfering in others' affairs by possibly exposing them to more harm from climate change. So, what can the other countries do? And what does that mean for sovereignty? In this video we explore the answers to these questions by examining the recent fires in the Amazon -- and how world leaders interacted with the Brazilian government to stop them.

CFR Education, from the Council on Foreign Relations, aims to close the global literacy gap in our country by providing accessible, accurate, and authoritative resources that build the knowledge, skills, and perspective high school and higher education students need to understand and engage with today’s most pressing global issues.

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