Young People to 'Fight to the Death' for the Amazon Rainforest

Deforestation has become worse in the Amazon. The area lost last January is double the size of the land lost in January last year. Last year, a disastrous dry season caused fires that destroyed huge swathes of rainforest, one of the most significant carbon stores that can slow the pace of climate change. Wildlife and trees were killed in alarming numbers.

A fight to the death

Fourteen-year old Maristela Clediane Uapa Arara is an indigenous member of the group known as Arara-Karo. It is one of the roughly 900,000 groups living in the Amazon for millennia. Their lands are specially protected, but are now being threatened by miners and loggers.

Maristela is worried. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, wants to scrap the indigenous peoples' cultural and special land rights. Bolsonaro promised that the indigenous peoples will be "integrated" to Brazil's main population, while he opens parts of their land to mining and agriculture.

Maristela says the president hates the indigenous peoples. She is really proud to be indigenous and believes it is the women's role to fight for their land. Juliana Tuiti Arara, 22 years old and cousin to Maristela, adds another concern, which is her fellow peoples and relatives who are also attacking the forest, cooperating with the loggers and miners. Both girls state their determination has been strengthened to protect their land. To the death.

The non-indigenous youth

Carina de Faria is a 16-year old farmer's daughter who believes the land should be divided equally. She and Rodrigo, her 18-year old brother, help their father herd cattle and plant vegetables in their 100-hectare (1 square kilometer) farmland, which in the past was part of the rainforest.

The siblings are also worried about deforestation. Rodrigo thinks that enough rainforest is already destroyed, and that which is left should be untouched. Carina adds that the older people are deforesting the rainforest, but the young people are aware of climate change. She says the youngeople are connected through technology and must work together, while the government should look for the solution.

Seventy percent of the farm of Rodrigo's friend Gustavo, also 18 years old, was lost to fire due to illegal land clearing. He believes that other farmers are putting the future of the Amazon at risk. He believes a lot of farmers are closed-minded and only want profit.

Protesting in the streets

Under Greta Thunberg's "Friday for Future" banner, a movement composed of young people protests each Friday on the streets of Manaus, Brazil Amazonas' capital. Fifteen-year old Bruno Rodrigues, together with his classmates, started Conscious Next, a group fighting against and highlighting the dangers brought by climate change.

The family of Ana Beatriz, 15 years old, was severely affected by the forest fires in the Amazon. Her sister had breathing problems due to the smog. Ana was shocked by the animals and trees that died in the fire. Experts state that the Amazon fires destroyed over two million creatures.

Still, Bruno is optimistic and hopeful, knowing that the thousands of young people protesting on the streets cannot be ignored by the politicians.