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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/07/brazil-amazon-paragominas-deforestation-landgrabs-shootouts-logging-slash-burn-farming-green-sustainability>
"It’s 9am and the sun is already high above a parched Amazon. Not even stray
dogs are out on the asphalt in Paragominas today, but Adnan Demachki knows just
the retreat. Turning right off state highway PA-125, the former mayor and
native of this restless frontier town of 105,000 people in northern Brazil
pulls up to the municipal park a five-minute drive from the town centre.
Inside, a shaded boardwalk winds through the forest to a green-hued lake
complete with lily pads and a sculpted serpent rising from the waters. Macaws
squawk in the canopy near a soaring sumaúma tree, the giant of the rainforest.
Recently, the optics in the world’s largest river basin have turned ugly.
Months of high temperatures and severe drought have turned vast swaths of
rainforest into tinder. By November, towns across the tropical biome were still
veiled in smoke and soot – an environmental calamity with continent-wide
knock-on effects and scant relief forecast from a mild rainy season.
But Paragominas has escaped the worst of the rainforest’s climate-crisis
events. Even as seasonal burnings ravaged its neighbours, this fast-growing
town in Pará state remained comparatively unscathed by wildfires. The soot and
ash darkening the city skyline late this year was mostly secondhand smoke blown
in from blazes elsewhere.
In a region battered by predatory logging and ranching, this city stands out.
More than resilience, Paragominas is the story of a reversal of fortune, as
compelling as it is unlikely."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
