MANAUS — Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest on Sunday (Nov 17), flagging the dangers of global warming often dismissed by President-elect Donald Trump who has vowed to scrap measures to fight climate change.

Biden flew from Lima, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil, the largest city in the Amazon, to meet with local leaders working to preserve the rainforest. He was to head afterward to Rio de Janeiro for a summit of the Group of 20 major economies that will address issues including poverty, global governance and climate change.

While in the Amazon, Biden toured aboard his Marine One presidential helicopter, viewing the confluence of the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers at Manaus, spots where water levels have dropped sharply due to the worst drought in decades and the rainforest.

Biden was accompanied by Brazilian scientist and Nobel Prize winner Carlos Nobre, who has warned that the Amazon may be beyond saving as deforestation has changed the weather patterns that sustain its jungle climate.

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