Current:Home > NewsAP PHOTOS: The Brazilian Amazon’s vast array of people and cultures-InfoLens
AP PHOTOS: The Brazilian Amazon’s vast array of people and cultures
View Date:2024-12-23 11:21:54
Renowned for its stunning biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest region is also home to a vast array of people and cultures.
“People usually think that the environment doesn’t contain and include people, but it does,” said soil scientist Judson Ferreira Valentim, who lives in Brazil’s Acre state. “There are many different Amazonias and many different Amazonians.”
From small villages of thatched homes to the skyline of Belém rising above mist on the river – a view sometimes called “Manhattan of the Amazon” – Brazil’s slice of the Amazon is home to 28 million people.
___
EDITORS’ NOTE — This story is part of The Protein Problem, an AP series that examines the question: Can we feed this growing world without starving the planet? To see the full project, visit https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/the-protein-problem/index.html
___
Many communities are linked by water. Along the Tocantins River, a tributary of the Amazon, yellow school-boats pick up children from wooden homes on stilts, and fisherman throw scraps of the day’s catch to river dolphins that frequent the docks. Families linger beside river beaches at sunset, the water a relief from the heat of the day.
Other communities are linked by rural roads, which often wash out during heavy rains, or new paved highways – which bring better access to schools and hospitals, but also, often, deforestation.
In the forest itself, there is often no path. Açaí picker Edson Polinario spends his days under dappled sunlight that filters through the canopy of virgin rainforest, often with just the company of his large black dog.
One evening in the small Tembé village of Tekohaw, Maria Ilba, a woman of mixed Indigenous and African heritage, watches as a wild green parrot feeds on salt in her windowsill. “There is an evolution – in the past, the village culture was more traditional,” she said. “Now it is more mixed.”
“There is a school, a little hospital, and a car that can take you somewhere else if you’re very sick.” She said she is grateful for such additions, but also worries that “in the future, the young people could forget the language, the culture, the foods and the tattoos.”
Changes are inevitable. She only hopes that the future will preserve what’s most essential – for the people and the forest itself.
veryGood! (9278)
Related
- Could trad wives, influencers have sparked the red wave among female voters?
- Senate clears first hurdle in avoiding shutdown, votes to advance short-term spending bill
- French farmers dump manure, rotting produce in central Toulouse in protest over agricultural policies
- Forest Service pulls right-of-way permit that would have allowed construction of Utah oil railroad
- 'Gladiator 2' review: Yes, we are entertained again by outrageous sequel
- 'I.S.S.' movie review: Ariana DeBose meets killer screwdrivers in space for sci-fi thrills
- The Best Plus Size Workwear That’s Comfy and Cute— Nordstrom Rack, Amazon, Boohoo, SKIMS, and More
- Green Day to play full 'American Idiot' on tour: 'What was going on in 2004 still resonates'
- Driver dies after crashing on hurricane-damaged highway in North Carolina
- Virginia Senate panel defeats bill that aimed to expand use of murder charge against drug dealers
Ranking
- California voters reject measure that would have banned forced prison labor
- Horoscopes Today, January 16, 2024
- ET welcome: Kentucky city beams message into space inviting extraterrestrial visitors
- Green Day to play full 'American Idiot' on tour: 'What was going on in 2004 still resonates'
- Mississippi Valley State football player Ryan Quinney dies in car accident
- GOP debate ahead of New Hampshire primary canceled
- Lorne Michaels says Tina Fey could easily replace him at Saturday Night Live
- Police search for drivers after pedestrian fatally struck by 3 vehicles in Los Angeles
Recommendation
-
Monument erected in Tulsa for victims of 1921 Race Massacre
-
Lake Erie's low water levels caused by blizzard reveal potential shipwreck
-
5 family members fatally struck after getting out of vehicles on Pennsylvania highway
-
Green Day to play full 'American Idiot' on tour: 'What was going on in 2004 still resonates'
-
Jessica Simpson's Husband Eric Johnson Steps Out Ringless Amid Split Speculation
-
South Carolina Republicans weigh transgender health restrictions as Missouri sees similar bills
-
Trump and Biden have one thing in common: Neither drinks. That's rare for presidents.
-
Supreme Court signals openness to curtailing federal regulatory power in potentially major shift