When starting a research work, the end result is not always what we imagined. Sometimes it ends up in nothing, sometimes it takes us by surprise because of what is revealed throughout each discovery. This seems to be the case of the book “Amazônia XXI”, which will be released on Sunday (14) in Lisbon, and on December 9th, in Brazil.
The book, which began with an economic footprint, seeking to identify viable solutions for the sustainable development of the Amazon biome, ended up going beyond the limits of the worksheets of architect Silvia Finguerut and art critic Paulo Henkenhoff, coordinators of FGV Conhecimento and organizers of the constructions.
“When we started the work, we had a more economic look, but we realized that there was a much broader universe to be shown,” Finguerut told sheet. “And the conclusion we reached, at the end of the work, is that the standing Amazon is much more productive than any deforestation, and economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable,” he added.
The development, over two years, of the “Amazônia XXI” project ended up bringing together a rare range of scholars of climate, environmental, geopolitical and cultural knowledge of the region. In all, there are 15 articles by different specialists that offer a holistic view of the Amazonian universe.
In a bilingual Portuguese-English edition, the work —which will be available on the FGV Knowledge website, and not sold— also includes around 180 images, including photos, reproductions of documents and works of art.
Seeking to escape the romantic gaze of the biome’s absolute untouchability, the book includes a powerful position by climatologist Carlos Nobre, retired from INPA (National Institute for Research in the Amazon) and member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), institution that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
In his text, Nobre takes up one of his favorite themes, the Amazon 4.0 concept, which applies the knowledge of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution —which brings together digital technologies, biotechnologies and materials science— to the sustainable economic viability of the region.
For Nobre, it is possible to think of a “massive bioindustrialization in the Amazon, the creation of an innovative bioeconomy of standing forest (…) accessing the immense biological resources of the most biodiverse forest on the planet”. A biome that brings together an estimated 350 trillion trees — something like 45 trees for every inhabitant of the planet — capable of storing at least 80 billion tons of carbon, in addition to about 40 thousand plant species, 427 mammals, 1,294 birds, 378 reptiles, 427 amphibians and more than 3,000 fish, which coexist with between 96,000 and 128,000 species of invertebrates.
As an example of what he defends, against the advance of cattle raising in the Amazon biome, Nobre says that “during the years 2005 to 2014, when there was a reduction in deforestation of around 75%, agricultural production in the Amazon doubled”. For him, this “shows that market demand has practically nothing to do with the increase in deforestation”.
He also explains that there is “clear proof — for example, in the IBGE data from the 2017 agricultural production survey — that standing forest products, such as açaí, Brazil nuts and cocoa, have much higher profitability than livestock and even of soy, and benefit a much larger number of people in the Amazon”. And it specifies that, in agroforestry systems, “the value of açaí production in one hectare is worth and is worth between five and ten times that of cattle raising and two to four times that of soybeans”.
But the book is not limited to the bioeconomic view of the biome, and is ambitious in encompassing the Brazilian legal system, from the perspective of Marco Aurélio Bellizze, Minister of the Superior Court of Justice, Professor at FGV and Academic Coordinator at FGV Conhecimento. It shows how the legal perspective has impacted the region from the times of Brazil Colony to the Citizen Constitution of 1988 and the most recent changes.
Also included in the work is a series of surveys analyzed by political scientist Antonio Lavareda and researcher Marcela Montenegro, on the importance of the Amazon for Brazilians and the world. They point out that close to 90% of respondents say they are concerned about preserving the Amazon, with 55% being “very concerned” and 33% “concerned”.
The concern, however, is not reflected in the physical knowledge of the region, which has its imagination built in Brazilian society from a distance. Of those who were heard by researchers and live in other regions of the country, 86% had never traveled to any of the ten states that make up the Legal Amazon, and 89% said they had not had the opportunity to get to know the forest in person. Even among residents of the region, the number of those who have already set foot in the forest outside urban areas is only 48%.
The book also contains a report on the actions of the Amazon Fund, managed by the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) and which, since 2008, has received voluntary donations from countries and companies for non-refundable investment in prevention, monitoring and combating deforestation.
The Amazon Fund, it is worth remembering, is the one that since 2019 has had R$2.9 billion in its vault because no new forest conservation project has been approved since the beginning of Jair Bolsonaro’s (non-party) government. The disastrous environmental policy adopted by the team from Pockets ended up leading Norway (responsible for 93.8% of the funds already received) and Germany (the source of 5.7% of donations) to suspend their disbursements.
And since Brazil is unaware of this immense, intense and idealized Brazil, the material includes specific chapters on the challenges of indigenous education in the region, the evolution of the arts over the centuries to the present day, and the role of social and environmental organizations in confronting local demands. In short, 316 pages to read, enjoy and dream – or have nightmares. The choice is in the hands of all of us.
X-ray
“Amazon XXI”
Coordination of Paulo Henkenhoff and Silvia Finguerut
Edition FGV Knowledge, 316 pages
Available in PDF from November 14th on the FGV Knowledge website
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I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
