Mongabay: Brazil’s former Environment Minister Marina Silva was awarded Norway’s $100,000 Sophie Prize for her efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. Silva, who resigned last year following battles with national industrial interests over plans to develop the Amazon, was recognized for Brazil’s 60 percent reduction in deforestation from 2004 to 2007. “Silva used drastic measures and clamped down on all illegal activity in the forest,” the Sophie Foundation said in a statement. “While …