Women in Egypt can now participate in a five-day writing program, courtesy of the Netflix Fund for Creativity Equity and content creation company Sard, according to a press release (pdf). The program, Because She Created, is geared at training twenty women from outside of Cairo in creative writing and improving their storytelling and creative expression skills through classes, talks by entertainment professionals and visits to the cinema and the theater. The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity creates upskilling initiatives for communities that are underrepresented in the entertainment industry and Sard was founded by awardwinning author and scriptwriter Mariam Naoum in 2016 as a space for budding screenwriters to enhance their writing skills and their creative potential.

Brazil’s aggressive agricultural boom is threatening its main biodiversity hotspot: A farming boom at Brazil’s Cerrado savannah has helped the country become an agricultural powerhouse, but the area’s ecological balance is paying the price, the Financial Times writes, citing ecologists. What is now a conversion of the Cerrado into arable land over the past few decades is sparking concern from scientists on the impact this boom is having on rich wildlife and the savannah being a crucial water source. But further worries emerge on the impact of deforestation in Cerrado on climate change, with a removal of trees, bushes and roots aggravating the risk of a carbon dioxide release from the savannah known to act as a “sink” for CO2. Brazil’s biodiversity is already under pressure as a result of its deforestation drive, which has led to a significant uptick in the number of fires in its Amazon rainforest.