Supporting teachers' mental health

by La Trobe University

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

La Trobe University research reveals an inexpensive "peer support" model used extensively by frontline health workers may be the solution to teacher burnout, which has left schools across the country unable to operate effectively.

Published in Teachers and Teaching, the study showed that of 40 educators who took part in the pilot program, all reported positive changes to their own mental health, better workplace culture and an increased ability to cope in the classroom.

La Trobe University Master of Education Coordinator, Dr. Anne Southall, said the need for mental health support structures for teachers was becoming increasingly clear.

"We know the pandemic put a lot of pressure on teachers—but, even before that, two thirds of educators experienced occupational stress, and over half identified as having anxiety," Dr. Southall said.

"Teachers are burning out and leaving the profession in droves, causing shortages across metro and regional schools. There is an urgent need to put structures in place to support them—and this model may prove critical,"

Dr. Southall said the trial showed that peer support in the form of "reflective circles" significantly improved teachers' ability to adapt to classroom challenges with a culture of openness, flexibility and compassion, allowing them to find solutions to complex problems together.

"The wonderful thing about this model is, once training has occurred, it is entirely self-supporting—schools don't have to employ a professional to run the program, and they can adapt the timing and structure to suit their needs," Dr. Southall said.

Over a three-year period at three regional Victorian schools, researchers trialed a peer supervision model, where critical reflection in a small group setting was used to generate strategies and solutions to complex challenges teachers were experiencing in the classroom—from disruptive students to unhelpful parents.

Associate Professor Fiona Gardner from La Trobe Rural Health School said systematic support structures such as reflective circles are a key pillar of allied health professions like social work and psychology, but the model was also well-suited to an education setting.

"We know that social workers and psychologists, who deal with incredibly complex, difficult and often traumatic circumstances, need peer support to ensure they can cope with the mental and emotional toll this takes on them," Associate Professor Gardner said.

"Teachers are finding they now have to take on similar roles in supporting their students, and the Reflective Circle Education Model can provide them with a space to develop a deeper understanding of their personal and professional interactions and encourage mutual support."

Co-Principal of St Peter's Primary School in Bendigo, Jen Roberts, said the model could make an enormous difference to the well-being of teachers at the school.

"Teaching is a complex and stressful profession, with teachers finding their roles are increasingly changing. With one in seven students experiencing mental health issues, teachers are often required to provide mental health support, while having no formal structures in place to safeguard their own emotional well-being," Co-Principal Mick Chalkley said.

Teachers taking part in the study reported that reflective circles generated significant mutual support between colleagues, helped them see things differently and build confidence and flexibility to better meet the needs of students.Teacher and principal stress running at twice the rate of general working public, hindering pandemic recovery

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More information: Fiona Gardner et al, Effectively supporting teachers: a peer supervision model using reflective circles, Teachers and Teaching (2022). DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2062727

Provided by La Trobe University 

Tackling air quality and COVID-19 in the classroom

by Victoria University of Wellington

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As the days get colder, teachers not only face the usual seasonal battle of keeping classrooms at a comfortable temperature but also trying to reduce the COVID-19 virus count in the environment. How to reduce virus spread is important knowledge for teachers—just as it was a century ago when the 1918 flu pandemic hit.

In the same way that we expect people to understand the fundamentals of nutrition when planning a menu, we need a sound understanding of building science to get the healthiest, most productive and enjoyable environments in our buildings. How can teachers deal with classroom "fug" and COVID-19 this winter? Louise Starkey and Michael Donn explain.

The fug problem

A common approach in winter is to close classroom windows and turn on the heaters. However, if you walk into a crowded space that has been tightly closed for a time against the outdoor air, you will notice a distinct transition into what might politely be termed a fug.

This fug has high humidity and high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, and is a natural product of people breathing. If this air is not removed and replaced with fresh air, CO2 levels will rise. And as this happens, stuffiness increases and the ability to concentrate drops significantly.

Building design typically aims for 1000 parts per million (ppm)—or fewer—of CO2 in the air. This standard was developed about 100 years ago and is based on diluting body odor to an acceptable level.

But body odor isn't the only worry.

For focused tasks, our ability to concentrate begins to decrease at CO2 levels above 1000 ppm and acute health symptoms start at concentrations over 5000 ppm.

Modern technology can now tell us when levels are too high: devices are being installed in New Zealand classrooms to alert schools when levels reach 800 ppm so they can act to reduce CO2.

COVID-19 in the mix

So, what can teachers and students do to lower CO2 as well as virus levels in the classroom?

In an era where heat pumps warm, cool and push air around a room, it is tempting to see the stuffiness as solvable by running the heat pump. Heat pumps may make the air feel fresher, but they're just circulating existing air without changing CO2 levels or removing virus contained within the air.

Therefore, these are not a good option to help concentration or reduce the risk of virus spread.

What about air purifiers? They are being installed in some classrooms. These devices recirculate the air in a space and "clean" it either through UV radiation or by filters. So they can help reduce virus levels in the air, but they do not lower CO2 and can only be half the answer.

Ventilation is the solution to lowering CO2 levels. Air ventilated from the outside into the classroom has lower CO2 levels than the air "polluted" by students and teachers breathing out CO2. One Danish research group found that "increased ventilation rates in classrooms have a positive effect on short-term concentration and logical thinking of children performing schoolwork."

Ventilation can be through open windows or a mechanical system that draws fresh air from the outside. For a classroom of 33 people, 0.5 square meters of open windows on opposite sides of the room provides adequate ventilation to keep CO2 levels down and concentration levels up by replacing the air about six times each hour.

This approach isn't new. Following the 1918 flu pandemic, "open air" classrooms were designed with windows on two sides of the room that could be opened to enable fresh air to flow through.

Ventilating the room with fresh air also reduces the virus count in the environment. Professor Richard Corsi, an air quality expert at the University of California Davis, estimates air in an enclosed space that has 700 to 800 ppm of CO2 might contain 0.8 to 1 percent COVID-19 virus during an outbreak when no one is wearing a mask. Masks reduce this risk further.

Opening windows may require increased heating—and noise distractions from outside the classroom will need to be managed. But this might be the price we have to pay to have comfortable and safe buildings in winter.

Poorly ventilated schools spread delta variant

Provided by Victoria University of Wellington 

Economic and psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nations of the GCC

by David Bradley, Inderscience

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A study in the Global Business and Economics Review looks at the economic and psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nations of the GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council).

Talla M. Aldeehani of the Department of Finance and Financial Institutions in the College of Business Administration at Kuwait University, in Kuwait, and Moid U. Ahmad of Scholeio Education in the National Capital Region (NCR), India, explain that they have investigated how government support may have ameliorated the detrimental psychosocial and economic effects of the pandemic on individuals and industry.

The team surveyed citizens of the GCC states and used moderation-mediation techniques and other analytical tools to draw conclusions from the data obtained. The GCC, more formally the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf is an intergovernmental political and economic union that comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The fundamental conclusion is that government support significantly reduced stress levels in individuals during the period studied, October to December 2020. Loss of earnings caused by the pandemic being a major stress factor for workers with men aged 50 and over being worst affected economically. This period coincided with the second wave of infection from the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and would have seen enforced lockdowns, quarantine, hospitality closures, and other restrictions in place in many places in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus.

The researchers say that the conclusions they have drawn might have relevance to nations beyond the GCC. They suggest that policymakers might best serve their citizens and businesses by putting in place a technological framework and other measures to ensure a more effective response to a future pandemic.Bahrain records first coronavirus death in GCC

More information: Talla M. Aldeehani et al, Economical and psychosocial effects of COVID-19: evidence from the GCC economies, Global Business and Economics Review (2022). DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2022.123283

Provided by Inderscience 

 New, fully biodegradable cellulose membrane proves effective in oil-water separation

by KeAi Communications Co

The closed loop process of the degradable cellulose oil-water separation membrane. Credit: Institute of Coal Chemistry (CAS)

Oil spills and industrial pollution pose a huge threat to the ecological environment. Concerns over safety have seen an increased focus on improving the filtration of oily wastewater; for example, during the treatment of sewage. Membrane separation technology offers a promising and efficient option for treating that wastewater, particularly with its low energy consumption. However, it remains a challenge to find low-cost, strong and environmentally-friendly composite membranes that can achieve a high level of separation.

A group of researchers at Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry (part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences—CAS) have developed a new and improved method using two different cellulose materials. Their process allows them to obtain membrane materials for oil-water separation that are "all cellulose" (cellulose with two or more different crystal forms).

Importantly, as they outline in their study results, published in Green Energy & Environment, their membrane is friendly to the environment.

According to Prof. Tiansheng Deng, the paper's corresponding author, "oil-water separation membrane materials that have been widely used in recent years include vinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polypropylene (PP), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), nylon or their composites. However, these polymers are non-biodegradable and put further pressure on the environment."

To solve this problem, Prof. Deng and his group chose degradable cellulose derived from plants as a raw material and then bonded it with commercial cellulose filter paper, which is low in price and porous. They found that a large number of nanopores appear in the modified cellulose filter paper, which improve the membrane's barrier against oil droplets. When their separation membrane comes into contact with water, a cellulose hydrogel is formed that effectively separates oil-water mixture and oil in water emulsion.

Prof. Deng adds that "cellulose chains are tightly bonded by a hydrogen bond, with few defects, and the mechanical properties of the material are greatly improved. The high dry and wet mechanical properties of the membrane extend the ways in which it can be applied and help it to remain stable when used in water. We believe this is an important step forward in the treatment of pollution."\

Bacterial film separates water from oil

More information: Chizhou Wang et al, Efficient oil-water separation by novel biodegradable all cellulose composite filter paper, Green Energy & Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.gee.2022.03.013

Provided by KeAi Communications Co

Novel synthetic polymers could lead to greater crop yields for farmers

by University of Birmingham

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have invented a new method to encourage bacteria to form growth-promoting ecosystems that could be used to coat the roots of plant seedlings, which is expected to result in stronger, healthier plants, and higher crop yields in agriculture.

In nature, the roots of seedlings form mutually beneficial relationships with communities of microbes (fungi, bacteria, viruses) in soil, and exchange nutrients, allowing both the plant and the microbes to flourish. This is particularly critical in the early stages of a plant's life when the seedling is in a race against time to reach self-sufficient growth before the nutrients and energy stores in the seed run out.

Dr. Tim Overton, an applied microbiologist from the University's School of Chemical Engineering, and Dr. Francisco Fernandez-Trillo from the School of Chemistry led a team to develop novel synthetic polymers that stimulate the formation of these bacterial communities in a way that mirrors a natural process known as biofilm formation.

A biofilm is a finely orchestrated community of microbes, supported by matrix of biological polymers that forms a protective micro-environment and holds the community together.

The researchers worked jointly on a four-year project on how polymers interact with bacteria, which resulted in the synthesis of a group of acylhydrazone-based polymers.

These new polymers were designed to act as an adhesive scaffold, "seeding" the formation of a microorganism-polymer complex to initiate and expedite biofilm formation. Once the biofilm is formed, the bacteria become a self-sufficient and self-organizing community, and produce their own matrix to allow the transmission of nutrients and water, and the discharge of waste products.

The project involved Ph.D. students Pavan Adoni and Omar Huneidi, who subsequently progressed research showing the polymers aggregate bacteria, and improve biofilm formation. Critically, they also showed the process is fully reversible, and the biofilm can be dispersed by changing the environmental conditions. The results of these experiments and further studies will be published in 2022.

Pavan Adoni commented, "We anticipate that the polymer will ultimately be used as a seed coating, perhaps in conjunction with bacteria such as B. Subtilis, which is naturally present in soil, increases the stress tolerance of plants, and is currently used as a soil inoculant. We envisage a more targeted approach that only treats the seed, so that when it germinates the bacteria are ready to grow in the safe harbor environment provided by a microorganism polymer complex. Ultimately this should result in stronger plants, which grow more quickly, and have greater resilience to disease."

University of Birmingham Enterprise has filed a broad-based patent application covering the novel polymers, the method of forming the biofilm and the method of polymer cleaving, and its use to promote growth of a biofilm with any microorganism including those that can produce or deliver chemical or biological molecules.

The patent has now been licensed to specialist life science company PBL Technology, which invests in, protects and promotes emerging innovations from public research sources worldwide. In agriculture, PBL's technologies include crop genetics, crop treatments, precision agriculture and promoters and R&D tools.Researchers propose new strategy for prevention and treatment of dental caries

Provided by University of Birmingham 

Examining the impact of herbicide-resistant crops on weed management

by Cambridge University Press

Integrated weed management (IWM) tactics are needed to manage glyphosate-resistant kochia (Bassia scoparia) in glyphosate-resistant soybeans (Glycine max L.). Credit: Vipan Kumar & Phil Stahlman.

Herbicide-resistant crops are now commonplace in the U.S. and Canada. With proper stewardship, these same crop-trait technologies can also play a key role in integrated weed management—reducing the intensity of herbicide use and the selection pressure on weed populations. But does this weed management potential match the reality in the field

A team of university researchers recently reviewed 25 years of data on the impact of herbicide-resistant crops on integrated weed management in the Great Plains, Pacific Northwest and Canadian Prairies. In an article featured in the latest issue of the journal Weed Science, they say herbicide-resistant weeds are now ubiquitous in areas where herbicide-resistant crops are grown. While the magnitude of the issue can vary by crop, resistance trait and where the crop is grown, it is largely influenced by whether growers resist the temptation to rely solely on herbicide-resistant crops.

"Slowing the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds will require diverse crop rotation sequences involving multiple herbicide-resistant and nonherbicide-resistant crops," says Caio Brunharo of Oregon State University, a member of the research team. "Unfortunately, though, few growers and land managers are adopting this approach."

The authors recommend adding new teeth to registration requirements and industry stewardship plans—backed by comprehensive training for seed retailers, agronomists and growers. They also suggest the use of financial incentives to promote adoption of proper stewardship practices.Research validates new control tactic for herbicide-resistant weeds in US soybean crops

More information: Caio A. C. G. Brunharo et al, Western United States and Canada perspective: are herbicide-resistant crops the solution to herbicide-resistant weeds?, Weed Science (2022). DOI: 10.1017/wsc.2022.6

Provided by Cambridge University Press 

Yellowstone flooding underscores environmental pressures facing US national parks

by Paul McQuiston, University of Southern California

Floodwaters have washed away parts of Yellowstone’s North Entrance Road, along the

 Gardiner River near the Montana-Wyoming border. Credit: Jacob W. Frank, National 

Park Service

America's national parks are in crisis, and the environmental disaster unfolding at Yellowstone National Park is the latest example of extreme weather driven by climate change battering parkland.

Glacier National Park in Montana is also experiencing severe flooding, in addition to the severe diminishment of the park's 26 named glaciers—some by as much as 80%. THIS PARK IS SHARED CANADA'S WITH WATERTON NATIONAL PARK

The unpredictability caused by climate change adds a further challenge as predictive models become increasingly irrelevant, causing delays in planning and resource allocation.

The U.S. national parks are a passion for Douglas Noble, associate dean for academic affairs at the USC School of Architecture. He credits a childhood spent visiting the parks as a Boy Scout for cultivating his love of America's wilderness. This spring, he and faculty across USC introduced a new interdisciplinary course, "An Exploration of America's National Parks," that centers on how humans interact with the national parks. We spoke with Noble about the flooding at Yellowstone, how climate change affects our national parks and his favorite national park.

What does the situation with Yellowstone flooding tell us about how climate change is affecting the national parks system?

The climate conditions are really troubling. It's not so much that it's warmer—people will say, "Oh, it's only 2 degrees warmer, what possible harm could that cause?" First off, 2 degrees centigrade is a big jump. It also changes the kind of things that can live or adapt to be there. It also changes migratory patterns. Water access in some places will dry up, and the lifeforms that lived where a tiny creek or pond used to be can no longer survive.

Yellowstone is a water-based place. Old Faithful, for instance: If you visit, there's a chalkboard that says how often it will erupt—usually around 55–65 minutes—and they're usually accurate to within a minute. But what happens when the conditions have changed? If there's more water? What if there's less? What has been a fairly predictable phenomenon now becomes an unknown. Maybe it erupts twice as often, or maybe it stops altogether. That's all to say we no longer can entirely know what's going to happen because the conditions have changed.

What is the impact of this unpredictability?

If you know what's going to happen in a climate, whether it's hot or cold, then you can make confident personnel and resource decisions to maintain the parks. There are impacts on tourism and agriculture—you know that based off predictive weather models that the last frost will take place after such-and-such date. If suddenly it's less predictable, there might be another frost later in the season, it could be warmer, it stops raining sooner or it might rain a lot harder. I'm a lot happier when things are just like last year—even if last year there was a week in the summer where it was too hot in L.A.—because I know that if we do the same as last year, we know how it works and we know what the impact is going to be.

In what other ways is climate change affecting the national parks?

Not long ago the biggest challenges were wildfires and, again, it goes back to climate change. Part of it was direct impacts—the fires wiping out vast chunks of forests—but it also affected the management strategies in place. Now we look back and say, "OK, maybe that was not a great strategy putting out all fires" because the amount of debris and dead stuff piled up. Where there had been a fire here and there to clear that debris, once we began putting out every single fire the amount of dead stuff really begins to pile up. Now when it catches fire, instead of 1,000 little fires, you get a really big one and the really big ones act a lot differently.

Glacier National Park has a rough idea when the last glacier will finally melt down. They can tell you how many there used to be just a few years ago, and how many there are now—the number is fewer and they're smaller. In some cases, a lot smaller and they keep shrinking. How much longer do they have? It's decades, not centuries.

What's your favorite national park?

I always answer that question by saying that it changes every time someone asks. There are 63 that many people think of as the so-called "regular" national parks, and almost 450 National Park [Service] units, including national battlefield parks, national historic sites, national monuments and others. Some are like Yellowstone that are large, and then there are others where something culturally important took place. I'm going to Joshua Tree this weekend, so maybe that is my favorite today. Climate change is being felt there, too. There are a small number of oases in the park—one of the most famous is the Oasis of Mara, which has been used by civilizations for millennia. There are six oases in a park nearly the size of Rhode Island, so these are rare treasures. Now the water table has fallen so much that the Oasis of Mara would die without human intervention. We're keeping it alive in the hopes that things will change for the better.

Yellowstone Park closed as swollen river destroys roads

Provided by University of Southern California 

Modern wind turbines can more than compensate for decline in global wind resource

by University of Freiburg

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Wind energy contributes significantly to the energy sector's sustainable, low-CO2 transformation. However, the efficiency of wind turbines depends on available wind resources and the technical characteristics of the turbines. Climate change, of all things, is causing the global wind resource to diminish in the 21st century. At the same time, the technical properties of wind turbines are steadily improving.

Based on global climate models and newly developed techno-projections, researchers Dr. Christopher Jung and Prof. Dr. Dirk Schindler were able to estimate these two opposing influencing factors and calculate their impact on the global and regional efficiency of wind turbines by 2060. One finding is that the efficiency of the global wind turbine fleet could increase by as much as 23.5% by 2035, assuming favorable climate trends, if the use of wind energy were optimized. The findings of the two scientists from the Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg were published in the journal Nature Energy.

High spatial resolution

The calculations of the two researchers provide an important basis for the future global expansion potential of wind energy. In their study, they identify accessible regions where wind resources can be used most efficiently under future climate conditions. The approach enables the determination of the best locations worldwide with particularly high spatial resolution for individual wind turbines and wind farms.

"What was surprising was the low impact of climate change on the wind resource compared to the projected technical development of wind turbines," says Jung. Thus, the climate change-induced decline in the wind resource can be more than offset with modernization of the wind turbine fleet. Also more significant than the overall impact of climate change on usable wind are fluctuations in resource availability between individual years.Offshore wind farms could disturb marine mammal behavior

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More information: Christopher Jung et al, Development of onshore wind turbine fleet counteracts climate change-induced reduction in global capacity factor, Nature Energy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-022-01056-z
Journal information: Nature Energy 

Provided by University of Freiburg 

How keeping trees when clearing pastures could reduce climate consequences

by University of New Hampshire

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Land use change, like cutting down a forest to make way for agriculture, can be a major contributor to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire studied a practice known as silvopasture which intentionally preserves trees in pastures where livestock graze. They found that compared to a completely cleared, tree-less, open pasture, the integrated silvopasture released lower levels of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide and soil carbon storage remained the same, offering a possible alternative for farmers with less climate consequences.

"We talked to a lot of farmers in the Northeast who are interested in the silvopasture approach but there aren't a lot of data to help guide them through implementation, and responsible and strategic management," said Alexandra Contosta, research assistant professor at UNH's Earth Systems Research Center. "We wanted to see if silvopastures made a difference and found that there are benefits to this approach that could help both the farmer and the planet."

In their study, published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, researchers conducted land use change experiments in both New Hampshire and New York. In both locations, the land was divided into plots with a reference forest, open pasture and silvopasture. In the silvopasture plots, trees were thinned by 50 to 60% and tree stumps were left in place. Orchard grass, white clover and other foraging sources were planted.

After the seeding, either dairy or beef cows were introduced. The team set up meteorological stations in each of the experimental areas, known as treatments, and monitored emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and soil carbon storage. The researchers found that the silvopasture offered a reduction in the climate consequences of a typical forest clearing to open pasture, and the climate regulating benefits of silvopasture extended to soil greenhouse gas emissions. However, they did not find any difference in air temperatures between the plots and were not able to document any changes in soil carbon storage among different land use change treatments.

"New England has a lot of trees which can reduce our options for agriculture and our ability to produce our own food," said Contosta. "So, what is exciting about this study is that it shows silvopasture could be a viable alternative that is also more climate conscious."

The researchers say that ultimately their study highlights the need to better understand how silvopasture can improve the negative climate consequences of forest clearing for agriculture and has implications for the Northeast and other temperate, forested regions across the globe.Silvopasture could tackle Colombian Amazon's high deforestation rates and help achieve COP26 targets

More information: Alexandra R. Contosta et al, Climate consequences of temperate forest conversion to open pasture or silvopasture, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2022.107972

Provided by University of New Hampshire 

ICYMI

The Amazon rainforest is disappearing quickly and threatening Indigenous people who live there

by Félix Bhérer-Magnan, The Conversation

President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has contributed to the acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon, threatening various Indigenous peoples in the region. Credit: Shutterstock

Forests throughout the world are shrinking year after year—and Brazil is the epicenter. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than a quarter of the Amazon rainforest will be devoid of trees by 2030 if cutting continues at the same speed

If nothing is done to stop it, an estimated 40% of this unique forest will be razed by 2050.

Beyond the material and environmental consequences, this deforestation also threatens human rights, including the rights of marginalized communities to life, physical integrity, a reasonable quality of life and dignity. Brazil is one of the most worrying cases in this regard.

As a Ph.D. student in political science, my research interests include climate justice, the energy transition, the green economy and international environmental politics.

Chainsaw massacre

Article 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples rules that these communities fully possess the "the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources."

This article is not being respected by the Brazilian government in the Amazon.

Although the country had pledged to significantly reduce deforestation and limit clear-cutting to 3,925 square kilometers, data from Human Rights Watch shows that chainsaws have razed nearly 13,000 square kilometers of tropical forests, making communities of Indigenous peoples even more vulnerable.

The rate of deforestation in these territories increased by 34% between 2018 and 2019, despite Brazil's commitment in 2009 to reduce it by 80%. This has led to the forced displacement of communities over hundreds of kilometers, as well as major health problems and a loss of reference points. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 13,235 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest was clear cut between August 2020 and July 2021, an 22% increase, compared to the same period in the previous year.

This coincides with Jair Bolsonaro's accession to power. In the month of January 2022 alone, 430 square kilometers of tropical forest was destroyed, five times more than in January 2021.

Threats and assassinations

Multiple abuses have been documented in Brazil since the beginning of colonization, including the illegal encroachment of the Brazilian state on Indigenous territories. Under Bolsonaro, the number of criminal networks contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon has multiplied. Organized crime views the large timber and agriculture industries as opportunities to move and launder money. The groups illegally exploit forest land, then hide drugs in timber shipments destined for Europe or Asia.

Experts qualify this illegal activity as "narco-deforestation." Numerous illegal gold and mineral extraction sites are also operating in the Amazon, and the companies running them often make threats to the Munduruku that live there.

People and activists who have protested the ongoing deforestation have been threatened, harassed and killed. In 2019, the NGO Global Witness recorded 24 deaths of environmental activists and land defenders, almost all occurring in the Amazon. This puts Brazil in third place among the countries with the highest number of deaths of environmental defenders, after Colombia and the Philippines.

There are reminders of this in the news. Bruno Araujo Pereira, a defender of environmental and Indigenous rights, and British journalist Dom Phillips have been missing since June 5, in an area called the Javari Valley, which has a reputation of being "lawless."

According to a local organization, the two had received death threats shortly before disappearing. Brazilian police first said search teams had discovered their belongings and later that bodies were spotted in the area of their disappearance. Police reported on June 15 they had found human remains while searching for the pair and that a fisherman who had fought with the pair had confessed to their killing.

The number of deaths of people involved in environmental and territorial defense may be greatly underestimated, as data are not available and transparent for all countries.

Women and children, the main victims of deforestation

A recent United Nations report reveals a strong correlation between worsening climate change and deteriorating human rights around the world.

Deforestation disproportionately affects Indigenous communities, especially women and children. It increases the pressure already placed on women to feed their children and families, while limiting their access to essential goods, including medicine.

Indeed, the health of these communities depends on access to natural medicinal products found in biodiversity. The Amazon is a major reservoir of substances used in the manufacture of several pharmaceutical products available on the South American continent.

Nearly 80% of the population in developing countries relies on natural medicinal products for their primary health care. In the majority of communities, it is also women who are responsible for cultivating the land and providing transportation and water treatment.

Children are equally at risk. For example, a study conducted in sub-Saharan African countries shows a link between the loss of forest cover and the deterioration of health conditions of the youngest. Malnutrition, caused by reduced availability of fruits, vegetables and nuts, can affect children's growth. The exposure to smoke from the multiple fires in the Amazon is also likely to cause respiratory problems and even more serious conditions in children.

More farming, more deforestation

Deforestation in Brazil offers a preview of the impact that climate change will have on human rights, both in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. In addition, due to the war in Ukraine, Brazil is looking to fill the food gap on world markets with crops such as wheat and grain.

Brazil's contribution is appreciated by countries such as Sudan, Pakistan and Haiti, which are among those most affected by the food crisis. But increased production may dangerously accelerate deforestation and human rights abuses can be expected to increase.

One thing is certain, one of the lungs of our planet is seriously ill and time is running out.

Amazon deforestation hits monthly record in Brazil

Provided by The Conversation