Eight University of Birmingham students are set to travel to the Amazon rainforest to tackle climate change and sustainability challenges.
They will work alongside other students from the UK and Brazil as part of the Immerse Amazonia initiative and will discuss key global challenges.
The students will immerse themselves in the Amazon rainforest before presenting their project when world leaders gather at the COP30 Summit in Brazil this November.
via Unsplash
The Birmingham Tab spoke to Lennox, a second year history student embarking on the trip, about the process of applying and what he hopes to take from the experience.
Lennox first heard of the opportunity during a lecture and ensured his application reflected his personality, even filming his video interview on a beach in Wales, demonstrating his passion for the environment.
Lennox applied for a position as it “looked like a great opportunity”. He told The Birmingham Tab he “really wanted to just get my personality across”, a great tip for those applying for similar opportunities.
Living in the rainforest for two weeks is a unique experience for anyone and Lennox has prepared for the cultural immersion by researching Brazil whenever he can alongside attending academic sessions. He said: “The main things that I’ve been doing is on my way back and forth to Birmingham, I’ve just been reading around the articles.” He explained this helped him to overcome his feelings of imposter syndrome and gain confidence for the rainforest expedition.
via Unsplash
Lennox has found lectures held by the university to be “a rich experience”, enabling him to understand different aspects of Brazilian culture. The students have also been learning Portuguese in the hopes of conversing with locals to discover their stories.
He added he is excited to be expanding upon his knowledge of Brazil and the issues impacting the rainforest: “It’s putting all my research and all my knowledge to practice and seeing it all firsthand”.
While he believes his personal perspective as a history student will assist when communicating with indigenous communities and academics, he recognises the dangers of oversimplifying narratives and misrepresenting communities.
He added: “I think it’s easy to oversimplify other people’s cultures and reduce it down to something … then distance it from what the true meaning of their culture really is”.
Lennox hopes to relate Brazilian stories back to people in the UK and portray “how vast… and how brilliant” South American culture is while climate change threatens to damage such civilisations.
An initiative created to support local communities within the rainforest, Immerse Amazonia will see students and academics join forces and use multidisciplinary approaches to common challenges.
The programme involves 24 students from the UK and Brazil, facilitating conversations between Birmingham students, indigenous Amazon communities, and Brazilian academics. They will discuss important international issues such as climate change and cultural cooperation.
As well as participating in important climate change debates at COP30, the results of their work will be shared by video and social media.
Following 400 applications, UoB students embarking upon the adventure were picked from a wide variety of subjects and hail from all parts of the UK. The candidates include Benkika Lal from West Midlands, Hadil Touihri from South East London, Madeleine Banister from Hertfordshire, and Holly Davies from Buckinghamshire.
Also attending the once in a lifetime trip will be Lennox Stevenson from Leeds, Katy McCarthy from Hampshire, Aoife Moriarty from North West London and Megan Bancroft from North Wales.
via University of Birmingham
After the project, students will showcase their findings at COP30, which will be held in Bélem in Brazil between Monday 10 November and Friday 21st November. The students will join the University of Birmingham Brazil Institute (UBBI), the university’s central point of communication with Brazil. Claiming “it hasn’t sunk in yet”, Lennox is grateful for the opportunity to convey the voice of students.
The cohort will also participate in the International Conference on Global Development and Diplomacy and Global Leaders Dialogue at the British Consulate and present outcomes of the trip to the student and academic body back home in Birmingham.
The University of Birmingham say they invest in and value Brazil as a strategic region of importance, hoping the project will develop purposeful partnerships and relationships.
Featured images via Unsplash and University of Birmingham
