Climate extremes in the Amazon and the challenge of living well

If one day the term climate emergency seemed like something for the English to see, today it knocks on the doors of even the most discredited with water or fire, but unfortunately those who suffer most from the consequences are those who were already impoverished and marginalized by the current economic model that is the basis of capitalist system, guided by the insatiable exploitation of the common goods of nature.

This is the reality experienced by traditional peoples and communities in the Amazon, which in recent years has experienced climatic extremes marked by historic droughts and floods, such as Roraima, reaching records for hot spots and fires and, on the other, Acre, counting deaths and made homeless by floods and floods of a proportion never seen before in the region.

The other day I spoke to an indigenous Huni Kuin, from Acre, and he told me that the people who brought all these disasters were the Nawá, who are non-indigenous people in their mother tongue. It was also the indigenous people who recalled, back in 2023, during the Free Land Camp (ATL), in an open letter to the entire world society, that we are in a state of climate emergency.

Okay, this is not a new fact, much less said now, but with fire and water at our doors, just like Saint Thomas who only believes by seeing, we notice a greater movement around plans and strategies to reverse, or at least , minimize this situation – and what else is to come.

Despite the obstacles of capitalism, which increasingly pushes us towards climate collapse, among other actions, through deforestation, illegal mining and contamination of rivers and springs, many initiatives are already underway, especially those developed over millennia. by the people of the countryside, forest and waters themselves, who more than anyone else, cultivate and defend respect for nature and practice what we call good living, a concept that goes against that development model that sees nature only as source of inputs for the production of goods.

We also have qualified researchers and activists focused on the cause, whether they are academicians or those from the school of life, such as the rubber tapper from Acre Chico Mendes, who left us an immeasurable legacy in defense of forests, but who today has his house printed on covers newspaper amid the lament of the climate emergency that he tried so hard to avoid.

So sad, the image refers to a cry for help from Chico Mendes himself, drowning in struggle and challenges to be heard, understood and, finally, see the alliance of all peoples in defense of the Amazon achieved.

Casa Chico Mendes, a living symbol of environmental protection, is flooded by floods / José Caminha/Secom Acre

As they say, in December 1988 Chico, murdered by land grabbers, paid with his own life for the Amazon to be recognized as ‘the apple of the world’, including the title of a book by fellow Amazonian and historical defender of the biome, the poet Tiago de Melo.

Tiago, who in life mourned Chico’s death in verse: “Behold, a man’s life is what he does and speaks, writes and sings. You live: you give foundation to the future.”

The future sung, spoken and even shouted by so many who fell in this fight has arrived. And despite the tragedies already underway and the collapse announced and signed by more than 15 thousand scientists under the striking phrase that “unfortunately, time is up”, we are faced with new possibilities, with the need and urgency to be understood by civil society and, above all, reverted to public policies that, in fact, guarantee not only survival, but also good living.

So that we can create the new, we drink from sources of the past, combined with the new fruits of today. One of these sources who also taught us a lot was the beloved Ana Primavesi, a pioneer of agroecology in Brazil and an international reference who, throughout her life, pointed out that climate change can and should be minimized through ecological management.

Nursery of Popular Agrarian Reform of the MST in the state of Pará / Carlinhos Luz

In fact, it was inspired by Primavesi, Chico, Tiago, Maria, João and so many other references that share knowledge, experiences and resistance, be they traditional peasant, settled, indigenous, riverside and quilombola peoples, which the Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) MST) launched in 2020 the National Plan “Planting Trees, Producing Healthy Food” with the objective of planting 100 million trees in 10 years.

The initiative is one of the responses to the environmental crisis suffered around the world, through seedling nurseries spread across settlements and camps in all areas where the Movement operates, where anyone can take part, working to multiply planting and contributing to environmental recovery and the production of healthy foods.

Since launch, 25 million trees have already been planted, which consists of the recovery of around 15 thousand hectares of land in the six Brazilian biomes, the equivalent of 22 thousand football fields.

*The National Plan Plant Trees, Produce Healthy Food was created in 2020 by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) with the goal of planting 100 million trees in ten years

** This is an opinion article and does not necessarily express the editorial line of the Brazil in fact

Editing: Thalita Pires