Cattle ranching has cleared large areas of Brazil's forests, especially in the Amazon and the Cerrado savanna, to make room for pasture. According to Our World in Data, beef production in Brazil has been the largest single driver of global deforestation in recent decades. A key point is that most of this beef is consumed at home rather than exported. That means the forces behind forest loss are rooted in domestic demand as much as international trade. Pasture expansion is one of the main ways forests are converted, and cattle need large areas of land. The finding shifts attention from foreign buyers to the country's own consumers and producers.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.