Climate change and impacts on the life of the amazonian worker: environmental racism and the right to a healthy quality of life”

Abstract

Brazilian Amazon, a vast green expanse cut by endless rivers; a territory of long distances and structural obstacles that shape the lives of its inhabitants. The presence of the State, through effective public policies, in riverside and inland communities is inversely proportional to the richness of fauna and flora that characterizes the region. In this context, the Amazonian worker—resilient caboclo, extractivist, Brazil nut harvester, açaí collector, or rubber tapper—faces the paradoxes brought by climate change: severe droughts, devastating floods, scarcity amid abundance. Although contributing nothing to global warming, it is he who suffers its most severe effects, experiencing environmental racism in its cruellest form. This essay argues that the Amazonian worker, as a subject of fundamental rights, cannot have his dignity compromised due to State absence and the consequences of global environmental degradation. On the contrary, it is imperative to recognize his vulnerability and to adopt public policies that overcome geographic and climatic obstacles, promoting environmental, social, and labor justice.