Project by: Sophie Bremer (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Jeanette Ng
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Shauna Finn
Description of the Project:
Research project about Indigenous People in Brazil fighting climate change, and why it matters for the world.
Final Product:
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Open in new tab Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant):
(this is not all my research these are just the pieces of information I have gathered so far.)
Intro: What do indigenous people have to do with Climate Change?
Indigenous tribes in Brazil are a prime example of the indigenous protection of lands
When we think about Climate Change and how to slower its impending destruction of habitats, animals, land, and global warming, we often dismiss a key factor that help our world.
Indigenous people protect 80% of the worlds biodiversity. This is an incredibly large sum of the earth’s natural resources, species, and everything else that lives within these limits.
Keep in mind, Indigenous people are less than 5% of the world’s population and their immense efforts get little-to no recognition, help, awareness, and support.
Groups and governments that are concerned with the future of our earth are primarily fixating their efforts into combatting it through corporations and more commercialized efforts
This is extremely important, but the effective protection and investing in indigenous protection is being looked past
Indigenous Brazilians: Why are we looking at them?
Brazil holds a lot of the world’s nature stability: people call it the “lungs of the world”, there are hundreds of animals, and if it is threatened, the whole world is in immense threat.
We are also looking at Brazil because it is home to hundreds (400-500 – natural geographic ) of Indigenous Tribes that are and have been combatting deforestation, drought, and all the other affects of Climate Change. Due to the right-wing political situation in the country, the the land in Brazil, specifically the Amazon, is not being protected. Rather, it is being exploited much faster than it was.
In Brazil, there is the Amazon rainforest, which is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, as well as the most diverse biodiversity
There are millions of animals, insects, trees, freshwater, land, and much more
“Brazil is home to some of the most carbon-rich forests in the world, with about 63 billion tonnes of carbon locked in.”- 10% of carbon stored in all ecosystems
There are hundreds of rivers
It is 5.5 kilometers wide (“so big that the UK and Ireland would fit into it 17 times!” (natural geographic )
20 percent of the planet’s oxygen (TNR )
How does looking at Indigenous work matter?
The study reveals that strengthening community forest rights is a low cost strategy to preserve at least 37 billion tonnes of carbon “safely stored” around the world. (Climate Home News)
Indigenous communities in different countries successfully hold about ⅓ of forests
“Communities hold legal rights to more than 500 million hectares of forests globally, about one eighth of the world’s total.”
“13 million hectares of forest are cleared every year at a rate of 50 soccer fields a minute.”
If you spend two minutes brushing your teeth, 100 soccer fields are cleared of forest!
“Legal rights could contribute to preventing 27.2 million hectares of deforestation by 2050 in this country. That is 12 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided.”
“They prevent logging, roads, mining and other forces that will destroy the forest.”
From 2000 to 2012, WRI deforestation analysis for the Brazilian Amazon, showed that forest loss was only 0.6% inside Indigenous Territories compared with 7% outside.
This shows, that the protection of these tribes is very useful
Conclusion:
Indigenous tribes need to be supported and focused on for their protection against climate change
They need to be given more rights and protection themselves to continue the work they are doing
Need respect from governments like the Brazilian government, not to threaten their land
There is only so much they can do: not able to handle the enormous pressure, especially from mining, industrial logging and infrastructure projects like building of roads, dams, and pipelines.
Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n_yrzs8mqKHoAGCSv_vrxD2AoC8oFBpvfbsUHSeE0pI/edit
Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):
What I’ve been doing:
- For the past few weeks I have been researching through various websites, articles, and other sources for information on Indigenous Groups in Brazil and how they are helping to mitigate climate change impacts on their land and the Amazon Rainforest. I have been compiling pages of notes and facts, which then required a lot of narrowing down to include the most pressing and crucial information – or else I would have an infinite list of information! I have put it in a flyer form for people to follow and read through. There are also little sections that ask you to reflect on your current knowledge and mini questions (with optional multiple-choice) to get you thinking and engaged! There are different sections addressing why this topic is important and why you should be interested throughout the climate movement and preservation.
More general reflection
- Originally, I was planning to do more of an infographic or slide show to present my research, but I decided a flyer might be a better layout and more accessible. I also didn’t have enough time to make my own charts and statistical infographics! I think the flyer is more suitable though because it is a better introduction to a topic that most people will probably realize they know little about.
- I also found myself very engaged to keep going down the rabbit hole of information on this topic. I found myself opening infinite websites and articles because there was just so much to know and so many things that make the land and people in Brazil so crucial to the movement. During the research, I also became increasingly more curious. Even though I was doing this project primarily to feed this information to others (because I feel like this topic is too neglected), I really realized how little I knew as well. Most of what I knew came from social media and a few articles, but my interest in it just became expanded as it went along. Soon I had too many notes and information to even get down, but I’m glad I kept going because now I have additional information for myself as well; even if I don’t share it all.
- Lastly, I am more motivated to push up the voices and work Indigenous groups in the Amazon now. As I see how pressing all the scientific elements are (the rate of destruction of the land, the oxygen stored, the animals dying, etc.), I am more angry and have the desire to fight harder for their work to be acknowledged. Also, I now have more confidence to share information on this topic. I always bring up the importance of indigenous groups, but find myself weary of the actual information I can rely on, and have little to back up my words. Overall, I am looking forward to watching the Indigenous movement progress and help it retain a bigger spotlight and support.
Here is the flyer/document below: Check it out!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bMgTsM_iTFDEFUlzdpVSM5SJ-_6dNOAhI_VlEzy1k8Y/edit#
