Complex Figurations at Risk. Perspectives for Human and Non-Human Inhabitants of the Amazon.

Abstract

The climate crisis is affecting the Amazon. River droughts and intense heat have an impact on humans and non-humans alike. Commodities, deforestation, selective logging, the use of fire and environmental degradation trigger anthropogenic effects in the Amazon. This essay aims at highlighting the consequences of this development for the future of humans and non-humans in the Amazon and beyond. It argues for the expansion of institutions of climate governance – in particular, carbon trading – to those who live in and from the forest. The analysis is based on fieldwork and applies a bibliographical as well as documentary approach. Its main framework is figurational sociology. In its last section this contribution sketches concrete interventions to shield the communities of the Amazon hinterland from social figurations appropriating the land for deforestation; these comprise valuing spontaneous actions and ethno-knowledge, creating experimental fields in the terra firme and várzea communities to form germplasm and seed banks, shielding communities from actors that compromise the balance of the ecosystem, providing better living conditions for Amazonians, and enhancing the environment for the life of non-humans.