Students embark on COP30 Amazonian adventure of a lifetime
Eight University of Birmingham students are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime – travelling to the heart of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and joining their Brazilian counterparts to explore ways of tackling climate change and sustainability challenges.
The Immerse Amazonia initiative brings together 24 students from the UK, Brazil, including from indigenous Amazon communities with Birmingham and Brazilian academics to discuss key global challenges through a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach.
Organised by the University of Birmingham Brazil Institute (UBBI), the two-week initiative is part of the University’s work promoting the ‘voice of youth’ ahead of November’s COP30 environmental summit in Belem, Brazil. ‘Global Cooperation’ is a key theme – particularly the importance of cooperation across cultures and disciplines to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
University of Birmingham students travelling to the forest research station in Caxiuanã where selected in a University-wide competition and come from across the UK:
Benika Lal - Wednesbury, West Midlands
Hadil Touihri - Forest Hill, South East London
Madeleine Bavister - St Albans, Hertfordshire
Holly Davies - Amersham, Buckinghamshire
Lennox Stevenson - Leeds, West Yorkshire
Katy McCarthy - Alton, Hampshire
Aoife Moriarty - Pinner, North West London
Megan Bancroft - Wrexham, North Wales
Medical student Hadil Toihri said: “This is an amazing opportunity to develop my cultural awareness and reflect on the environmental and climate change challenges facing our planet ahead of COP30. I’m studying medicine at the University of Birmingham and looking to study for a Master’s degree in global health, so I’m particularly interested in learning about the public health issues facing the people of this region.”
The students join academics in visiting and collaborating with Belém-based partner organisations, as well as Amazonian communities that live within the forest, archaeological sites, forest management, and restoration sites. They will be using video and social media as part of the project to document their findings.
They then travel to São Paulo to join a UBBI delegation and take part in the International Conference on Global Development and Diplomacy, as well as a Global Leaders Dialogue at British Consulate with the UK Ambassador to Brazil Stephanie Jane Al-Qaq CMG. The students will present outcomes from their work in the Amazon to the University’s student and academic community in the autumn semester.
Professor Adriane Esquivel Muelbert, Joint Director UBBI, commented: “We aspire to provide the best opportunities to our students – using our expertise and partnerships to play our part in tackling some of the biggest climate change and sustainability challenges. By bringing together students from very different realities on this adventure of a lifetime we hope the students, from both nationalities, change their perspective of world around them. We aim to be inspiring next generation of future makers and that this group can inspire young people around the world to engage with the challenges associated with climate change.”
Birmingham academics taking part represent research disciplines from across the University including Environmental Science, Social Sciences, Decolonial Studies, Applied Health Sciences, Biosciences, and History.
