19th August 2023
Balancing the needs of the planet, the needs of indigenous peoples for sustainable livelihoods, and the pressures of developing countries who see industrialisation as the way forwards, how can places like the Amazon rain forest survive? The Amazon is “home to an estimated 400 billion trees belonging to 16,000 different species, more than 1,300 species of birds, tens of thousands of species of plant, and 20% of the world’s freshwater resources. It is also estimated to contain more than 120bn tonnes of carbon, making it a vital carbon sink. But over the past half-century, the advance of cattle ranching, logging, mining, soy farming and oil exploration has devastated huge swathes of the region, pushing it towards what scientists fear could be an irreversible tipping point that would cause the forest to die off.”
The recent Amazon summit at Belém tried to address some of these issues, including how the rainforest can be protected whilst providing for the indigenous people so that there wellbeing and living standards can be improved. “The rainforest is neither a void that needs occupying nor a treasure trove to be looted. It is a flowerbed of possibilities that must be cultivated,” said Lula da Silva, the Brazilian President.
The Green Tau 