The traditional populations of the Amazon basin have been able to co-constitute their lives with the forest, creating worlds of mega-diversity where the respectful relations between humans and other-than-humans are ruled by a diplomacy of worlding. Yet since the arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century these worlds have been threatened and endangered. As of today the Brazilian government and global investors continue to promote the conquest of the Amazon with the same extractivist logic that has brought the world to the brink of collapse.

Helena Palmquist was born and lives in the Brazilian Amazon. She is a journalist and has a master’s degree in anthropology from the Federal University of Pará. She is currently an advisor to the Brazil Federal Prosecution Office, where she works with the press, the judiciary, and social and environmental movements.

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