Environmental Advocates Are on the Frontlines of Democracy Protection in the Amazon
Commentary by Xanthe Scharff
Published September 17, 2025
Amid increasing funding to protect the Amazon and ahead of COP 30 in Brazil, the United States should recognize environmental defenders’ vital role in protecting democracy.
In November, an estimated 50,000 people will travel to the Brazilian Amazon for COP 30, the annual climate change conference where parties negotiate decisions to cut greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.
Climate change mitigation and environmental preservation efforts garner significant attention from governments and private philanthropy, although much more is needed to meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement to limit global warming. Still missing at these annual meetings, however, is the understanding that environmental defense work is critically linked to democracy promotion. Environmental activists are fighting for the rights of the most vulnerable people and places on Earth—rights that lie at the very heart of democracy.
The Amazon is often referred to as a “carbon sink” because the areas that are protected from deforestation store and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. On average, each year forests managed by Indigenous people in the Amazon remove about as much carbon dioxide as the UK produces from fossil fuels, according to the World Resources Institute.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/environmental-advocates-are-frontlines-democracy-protection-amazon
