When Marina Silva resigned as Brazil’s environment minister in 2008, she was an international rock star. Deforestation in the Amazon had plummeted by 50% during her five-year tenure. She had been showered with awards and included on lists of influential thinkers. She was also admired for her tenacity. Brought up poor and illiterate as one of 11 siblings on a rubber plantation, Ms Silva went on to graduate from university, be elected as Brazil’s youngest senator and forge Brazil’s climate policies. Even her resignation, in protest at large infrastructure projects in the Amazon, seemed to bolster her integrity.