The Amazon …
… is more important to preventing climate change than any other carbon sink in the world. The world’s plants are responsible for consuming around 25% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. The Amazon basin alone is responsible for more than 123 billion tons of these emissions. But the Amazon is in a self-perpetuating cycle of decline as a quarter of the land has slowly transformed into Savannahs, adding to the world’s carbon emissions instead of reducing them.
Deforestation ...
… has occurred at an accelerated rate over the past decade as land has been claimed for agriculture and mining. Brazil, responsible for about 76% of the deforestation in 2020, has reduced legal deforestation rates to great success, but much of the ongoing struggle is done illegally on Undesignated Public Forests. Unfortunately, government response from most of the countries that make up the Amazon occurs too slowly making it extremely difficult to coordinate actions that mitigate destruction.
The Indigenous Peoples ...
… of the Amazon are the true caretakers of the forest. They live in harmony with the land and animals as part of their culture and way of life. It is believed that the indigenous play a critical role in preventing deforestation and preserving what remains of the Amazon forest. That they are the last line of defense against deforestation. The indigenous however are outmatched in the war to save their land.
The Divide
The socioeconmic divide separates the indigenous nations from successfully defending their land. If the indigenous are the determining factor in stopping deforestation, then this is the root of the problem. The indigenous live on what the land provides, but as that land dwindles so do their resources, their culture and will to fight. They are up against invaders with potentially unlimited resources. So how can they fight for the land, their culture, their very lives, when day-to-day survival is a struggle?
View the documentary trailer We are Guardians, a firsthand account of the indigenous and their struggle against invasion and deforestation.
