New video: Community-led climate solutions in the Amazon
/The world is watching the Amazon. Some see it as a vast reservoir of wealth to be exploited, while others fear the destruction of one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems. Despite various initiatives to preserve the forest, the voices and lives of those who call it home are too often overlooked. This immense territory, larger than France, Portugal, and Spain combined, is home to 28.4 million people. Today, three out of every four Amazon residents live in cities, facing complex social, economic and environmental challenges. Amazonian people don’t just need solutions imposed from outside; they are already creating them.
One example is the city of Bujaru, where 50 citizens gathered in a citizens’ assembly to deliberate on the community’s most urgent issues—scarce job opportunities, low income, biodiversity loss, food insecurity and limited public revenues. They developed community recommendations for the City, and then used legislative theater to build broader youth engagement and political support for the recommendations.
Watch the video below to understand how citizens can balance environmental protection and a healthy economy, by mixing different participatory democracy methods.
How global support led to creative, joyful local change
Mixing participatory methods in Bujaru was made possible thanks to the mentorship and support offered through the Climate Democracy Accelerator (CDA) program. Delibera Brasil, a People Powered member facilitating participatory processes in the region, was selected as one of the awardees, receiving guidance, resources, and funding to develop an innovative hybrid model that combined citizens’ assemblies with legislative theater.
This support allowed the team to bring global insights and best practices into the local context, strengthening both the process and its outcomes. As Silvia Cervellini from Delibera Brasil emphasizes: “What makes People Powered unique is that participation is at its core—not as something decorative, but as the heart of change. Participation is often cherished in principle, but rarely central to an organization’s plan or actions. Here, it truly is, and that’s exactly what we need more of.”
Closing a citizens’ assembly is not the end but the beginning of a new process: turning recommendations into reality. Delibera Brasil has highlighted several key learnings from using these methods for climate action. Silvia notes: “Climate action is not something we can do separately. The assembly helped put together all these forces in the city, showing the importance of joining efforts and planning collectively.”
By adding legislative theater to the citizens’ assembly, Delibera Brazil created new opportunities for civic engagement and political advocacy. Through theater workshops, young people were trained in acting, critical thinking, and political advocacy, enabling them to write and perform plays that communicated the assembly’s recommendations in schools, community centers, and even at the city council. This approach placed youth at the center of envisioning Bujaru’s future, while local leaders used the performances to engage with state legislators and other sectors of society. The initiative not only raised the city’s profile but also inspired other citizen assemblies across Pará, helping to expand the practice of legislative theater throughout Brazil.
Up until now, the initiative has achieved:
Development of community recommendations for municipal policy, and delivery to the city council
Development of a Municipal Agriculture Plan
Strengthening of cooperatives in dialogue with the private sector
Engagement of young people in spreading the recommendations across the city
Valuing of local culture and culture professionals
Lessons from Bujaru’s journey
Plan follow-up strategies after the assembly to ensure continuity and impact
Recognize the limits of environmental education projects without concrete outcomes
Engage schools and young people as active participants in climate action
Map potential funders to support the implementation of citizens’ assembly recommendations
Establish a commission of the most engaged citizens to oversee and champion follow-up actions
The road ahead
Planning their own future, the people of Bujaru envision a city where traditions, community ties and the relationship with the land and rivers are preserved, while new opportunities for work, education and leisure flourish. Citizens' desire for Bujaru is a city where bioeconomy and family farming generate income and employment, environmental preservation is a priority, and the community actively engages with global discussions on climate and sustainability.
We would like to thank Delibera Brasil for kindly providing many of the images featured in this video. Images by Manoel Hayne, Marina Lima, Michel Ribeiro, and Yuri Vasques.
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