The natural beauty of the forest was always very captivating. During the expedition we received journalists and German actor Mortiz Jahn who fell in love with the Amazon. Our home for almost a month was a regional boat that housed approximately 60 people on board: Our group consisted of about 15 researchers linked to the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), and partner institutions, the Greenpeace team and members of the Manicoré River communities. Since 2006, families associated with the Central of the Manicoré River Agroextractive Associations (CAARIM) have sought to create the Manicoré River Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) – a protected area that would not only enact, by law, the conservation of that region, but would also allow them to continue managing the area’s resources in a sustainable manner, such as fish, fruits, wood and chestnut trees. Due to deforestation, we are losing species that science has not even had time to discover! This support for the scientific community in Brazil comes after we have supported master’s and doctoral researchers who study biodiversity with scholarships in previous years. In addition, the expedition provided a platform to research the biodiversity of the region, which is still understudied. The purpose of the expedition was to support the struggle of the communities of the Manicoré River, which for 16 years have demanded the protection of the forest and recognition of their rights to the territory. This forced us to face stark contrasts yet again, this time between the feeling of sadness and revolt, with the certainty that we need to remain strong in the fight to reverse this path of destruction and violence that has been fostered in the Amazon by Brazil’s anti-environment government. It was on this journey that we learned that Indigenous rights expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips had disappeared. From the exuberance and strength of the Madeira River, to an absurd number of mining dredges. On the way from Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, to the expedition destination on the Manicoré River, we saw many contrasts. In this very important and decisive election year for Brazil and the Amazon, we embrace the challenge of talking more about the thriving and just Amazon that we must build, strengthening the hope that still resides in us. And despite all this, it is up to us to keep fighting even harder for this scenario to change, and for it to change soon.įor two years we have been hoping to carry out an expedition to showcase the Amazon We Need, which was postponed because of the pandemic. Still, there are those moments of utter helplessness, like when colleagues and supporters are murdered. We have been partially victorious in this battle so far, as we have managed to prevent many of these proposals from being approved. There have been many online mobilizations, for example on Twitter against land grabbing bills (PL2633 and PL510), which aims to legalize the invasion of public lands. In response, we have dedicated ourselves to blocking this agenda of destruction however and wherever we can. On a day-to-day basis, we have witnessed the dismantling of Brazilian environmental management with decrees and decisions here and there by the Bolsonaro government. It faded because our recent work at Greenpeace Brazil has so often shown the sad part of the Amazon, like when we carried out an expedition in states of Amazonas and Rondônia in September last year to document the impacts of fires on people’s lives and the environment, or when I was in the Pantanal in 2020, when more than a quarter of the biome was burned in a span of only a few months. I recently returned from a 21-day trip lived intensely in the Amazon rainforest that, even at this distressing moment in Brazil, managed to bring back a gleam in my eyes that had faded. Vegetation on the bank of the Manicoré River, in the southern Amazonas state, in the Amazon, Brazil. Returning to the Amazon and witnessing its splendor renews our strength to fight against the destruction and violence that consume us and the forest. This article originally appeared on Greenpeace Brazil’s website.
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