Environment

Record-setting wildfires are raging in the Pantanal region in Brazil. In a densely vegetated rural area the size of England, it can be hard for firefighters to find and reach the blazes to combat them. That’s why one nonprofit is training local fighters to use drones to pinpoint the exact location and size of fires, and scope out roads to reach them. 

The Pantanal, Brazil’s wetlands region, covers an area roughly the size of England. Although this region is typically flooded for much of the year, droughts have led to wildfires, destroying large swaths of vegetation and wildlife. 

Japan’s rural population has been in decline for decades. That’s caused many towns to close schools for lack of students. But residents in the village of Takigahara transformed a former nursery school into a different kind of community gathering place.

In China’s southern province of Yunnan, a community known as the Bai expresses itself mostly by singing. And they have a song for everything: from history lessons to mourning to flirting. Host Marco Werman speaks with National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek, who also discusses the early 20th century Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock, who traveled through this same region of western China.

As it gets harder to make a living growing tea, some Japanese farmers are leaving the industry, while others are exploring new options.