WATCH: Brazilian climate leader talks socio-economic partnerships

The environmental crisis cannot be tackled with a siloed approach, and strategies must look to address human rights, equality, and other injustices, working with communities to push for change. 

A recent episode in the longstanding Net Zero show welcomed Paloma Costa Oliveira, a climate leader fighting for the rights of indigenous communities and ecosystems in Brazil. Speaking to environmental activist Verdaant Thuse Bal, she explains how governmental and corporate policies must be aligned with wider issues we need to overcome as part of the struggle to rebalance the planet. For example, social justice and economic inequalities. 

Not for the first time, education is positioned as a vital tool in encouraging more sustainable, low-impact ways of thinking and being, with young people positioned as vital changemakers in their communities. Meanwhile, learning from the past – specifically eras in which humans were successfully living alongside nature – can also give us an insight into how we might be able to secure a future that works in a similar way. 

Take a look at the video interview below, then revisit Environment Journal‘s September 2022 feature focusing on activists risking their lives in a bid to protect the planet. Written by freelance investigative journalist, Charlie Jaay, the piece celebrates the role of these ‘environmental defenders’, while highlighting the scale of the challenge involved in challenging, and defeating large organisations with vested interests in the status quo. Next, read our new interview with Emma Montlake, Head of Casework at the Environmental Law Foundation, a network of UK lawyers offering pro-bono services to community groups dealing with direct threats to their natural assets. 

More on environmental protection: 

Giving rivers and communities a voice: Environmental Law Foundation

River Thames Scheme: Sustainable land use, nature recovery, flood protection

Environmental defenders: The activists risking their lives to protect the planet

Image: CRYSTAL MIRALLEGRO