Bertopolis, Brazil – The hottest region in Brazil is blanketed with guinea grass: thick, invasive and highly flammable. Black swaths of burned earth checkerboard the rolling hills — evidence of the fires that have increased along with the temperature.
Yet enter the village of Pradinho, and a verdant patchwork emerges. Here, lush banana palms, cassava plants and guava trees sprout from the dry plains.
These flourishing lots are the product of Hāmhi Terra Viva, an Indigenous-led agroforestry project in the eastern state of Minas Gerais where ancestral songs and traditions are woven into the planting process.
Each oasis of trees, cultivated in backyard plots or large reforestation areas, signals a kind of rebirth for the local Maxakali people, also known as the Tikmũ’ũn.
The Atlantic Forest, a complex ecosystem of rainforests, coastal broadleaf trees and mangroves, used to cover the Maxakali territory. Its dense canopy trapped in moisture and fostered one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.
But the destruction of the Atlantic Forest has exacerbated the local effects of climate change — and with it, heightened the risks of wildfires.
In Brazil, the Jequitinhonha Valley, where the four Maxakali territories are located, has suffered a dramatic rise in temperatures in recent years.
Twenty Brazilian cities registered temperatures five degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average daily maximum, according to 2023 government data analysed by the newspaper O Globo. Of those cities, 18 were in the Jequitinhonha Valley.
The city of Araçuaí even shattered the record for the hottest temperature in Brazil’s history in November of that year, with thermometers rising to 44.8 degrees Celsius — or 112.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It lies a mere 130km (81 miles) from Maxakali territory.
“We are in the epicentre of the climate crisis in Brazil,” said Rosângela Pereira de Tugny, coordinator of the Hāmhi project.