The Amazon Speaks: Imaginaries and Realities

With COP30 in Belém, 2025 marks a decisive moment for Brazil and the international climate agenda. The Amazon has long been a subject of diverse projections regarding its character, its people and its significance, for example, in tackling the climate crisis and conserving biodiversity. 

Join us for the launch of the English-language digital edition of the Brazilian Amazon Atlas. This new publication challenges all too simplistic and colonial narratives of the region. It features more than 30 contributions from local voices: indigenous peoples, quilombolas, river dwellers, researchers, and communicators. We believe their perspectives, ideas, and demands must be central to any debate on solutions to the current crises. With the Atlas, we hope to broaden the discussions on the Brazilian Amazon and encourage a shift in perspective towards a sustainable and self-determined future for the region. The rural and urban communities of the Amazon possess invaluable ancestral knowledge for addressing climate change and social challenges – knowledge and wisdom that should be of great interest to the international community.

At the same time, the biome and its inhabitants face multiple challenges stemming from international dynamics. The region has long been a 'battleground of competing interests,' marked by land conflicts, violence, and drug trafficking activities. German and European policymakers must also address these issues if we are to achieve socio-environmental justice globally.

With: 

• Aiala Colares Couto, Geographer, Professor at Pará State University (UEPA) and Director of the Institute Mãe Crioula
• Julia Dolce, Journalist and Editor of the Atlas of the Brazilian Amazon, Brazil
• Dr. Imme Scholz, Co-president Heinrich Boell Foundation
• Martin Coy, Professor Emeritus for Geography, University of Innsbruck
   

Moderation: Julia Ziesche, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany

Program:

14:00-15:45 – Launch Event
15:45-16:30 – Get together with Finger Food

Find the Brazilian version of the Atlas here
 

Simultaneous interpretation Portuguese - English will be available.
Participation is free. A Livestream will be available shortly before the event.

This event is part of the Amazon Week 2025 of the Brazilian Embassies in Berlin, Brussels, and Paris.

Contact Heinrich Boell Foundation: 
Victor Souza
Latin America Division
E souza@boell.de

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

Please register in advance. Unfortunately, the number of seats for this event are limited. If we are at capacity, the conversation will be transmitted via video to other rooms.

» Livestream
Alternatively, you can follow the event via the livestream without registering.
Livestream in Englisch
Livestream in Portuguese

» Towards Greater Accessibility
At the Heinrich Böll Foundation, we are constantly striving to remove barriers. Whether in our building, in the release of publications or at online events. All information on this can be found under the following link: https://www.boell.de/de/auf-dem-weg-zur-barrierefreiheit