What do you get when you cross kids with paintbrushes and a passion for environmental change? You get ‘artivism’ – a powerful blend of art and activism that can transform hearts and minds.
At Greenpeace, we are always inspired by the power of art to drive change and make a difference. We are thrilled to showcase the incredible ‘artivism’ from the students of Living School Lismore. These young artists have not only embraced the challenge of advocating for nature but have done so with creativity and passion that truly embodies the spirit of environmental stewardship.
Living School strives to offer educational opportunities that fosters and nourishes responsible citizens who make positive contributions to our world. The Middle School students engaged in Project Based Learning Units, exploring Sustainable Development Goals, real world application and a focus on halving our impact across six terms. After the second term, where all students in the school have an in-depth focus on ‘Nature’, they hosed a Nature Symposium – this year marks the second year of Middle School and their second symposium.
Last year, students developed innovations to halve environmental crimes occurring in schools. This year, they worked through the Catalyst Design Thinking Framework to respond to the evocation, ‘How can we advocate for nature through art-ivism?’. These artworks and artist statements were created over just two days, in a hack-a-thon style event, supported by a local artist, staff and cross stage groupings.
Inspiring Artworks by Students from Living School Lismore
“The students’ energy throughout the event was palpable, they are so confident in their determination to call out unsustainable practices which translated powerfully to the variety of artworks created.”
Emma Wilson – Year 8 Guardian Teacher, Living School Lismore
Evermore
Indigo and Jordy
This art piece is about SDG14: Life Below Water. It is about the environment and the future that is deserved. Not for humans, but for the nature and animals surrounding us. In this painting, you will see the animals clawing at the globe of a future that they not only want, but deserve. The globe is cracking and breaking to show that it could be close. And that the animals really need this. We are hoping this sends a message to the viewers, that society’s consumption is a big role in the prevention of the future for nature that has been tainted to something humans want.
We Choose
Stella and Marli
Pollution is slowly consuming our oceans and after a while, we will have nothing left. When we disrespect, we get left with less than we had before. ‘We Choose’ is our art piece that represents pollution and beauty. We see the ocean and think of it as an amazing place. But will it be in the future? This is what is happening to our world. We used brown to represent dirty liquid in the water, we used green to represent toxic fluids and pink because it represents the blood that will be on our hands if this continues.
We also used dots to represent the lives that will be lost. If this continues, this will be the path to humanity’s extinction. But if this stops, we will see the true beauty of this world. For the beauty, we used the sea creatures to represent how much marine life will be saved. We used the seaweed to show how much the plants under water will thrive. Be caring, love the planet.
Oil Spill
Strummer
This artwork, titled ‘Oil Spill’, addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14 and 15 which focuses on land and water. The artists chose to advocate for halving our impact to stop pollution.
This artwork highlights the critical role of art in raising awareness about environmental decline, resulting in the loss of animal, earth and plant life.
Through the use of various elements of art, the artist conveys the message of environmental awareness and stewardship. Contrasting colours are used to highlight the beauty of nature and its rapid demise.
Plastic Ocean
Kai
This artwork, titled ‘Plastic Ocean’, addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15 which focuses on marine life. The artist chose to advocate for halving our impact on the pollution of the environment. This highlights the critical role of art in raising awareness about environmental decline resulting in the loss of animal homes and lives. Contrasting colours are used to highlight the beauty of nature and draw the audience’s eye.
Eye to Eye
Marlon
This artwork, titled ‘Eye to Eye’, addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14 which focuses on cleaning plastics from the ocean and making the coral not bleached anymore. The artist chose to advocate for halving pollution. ‘Eye to Eye’ highlights the critical role of art in showing people the effects of pollution on our ocean and what we can do about it. By drawing the audience’s eye to the fish, the artist invites them to consider the importance of marine life. By positioning the contrasting elements of life and death around the outside of the eye, the audience is invited to consider our impact.
Wild Sea Turtles Consuming Jellyfish
Koco
My artwork depicts wild sea turtles consuming jellyfish but sadly, due to human impact, they end up ingesting plastic bags. The scene serves as a powerful reminder of humanity’s effects of pollution on marine life. It highlights the urgent need for sustainable practices to protect our oceans and the creators that inhabit them. By raising awareness through art, we can inspire others to take action and make a positive impact on SDG 14.
I Want In My World
Destin
The painting, ‘I Want In My World’ was created by a Living School student in Year 7 named Destin Pacanowski. The artwork addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on healthy creeks, lakes, oceans and rivers. Not only focusing on them being healthy but being full of life as well. The artist identifies halving pollution as a crucial step to mitigating the impact on ocean pollution.
This artwork underscores the critical role of art and raising awareness about climate change. Art-ivism has a unique ability to evoke emotions and provoke through in ways that words alone cannot. By visually depicting the effects of pollution and the major importance of sustainable practices, artists can engage viewers on a much deeper level, fostering empathy and understanding.
Through the use of various elements of arts, the artist conveys a message of environmental stewardship. Light and dark colours are embraced to show both sides of the situation in this artwork. The depth is used to show a dark night sky.
By promoting the message of reducing pollution, the artwork strives to inspire viewers to take immediate actions towards sustainability. Overall, this artwork shows a visual call to action. Embracing individuals to make continuous choices that will positively impact the environment and support those most affected by pollution all around the world.
Evacuations
Annika
This piece of artwork is called, ‘Evacuation’. It is named after what is bound to happen if we don’t change our ways. ‘Evacuation’ was carefully crafted by a proud Year 8 student of Living School. It was painted to represent the pollution Halve It goal and to evoke the 13th SDG, Climate Action.
This piece shows what we will do to nature, our home planet, it we continue down this path. The earth cannot combat our advanced machinery and corrupt wats, Nature has no weapon to fight. We pillage and plunder the very thing that gives us life. This picture is showing our fate. There is NO Planet B!
Through this art, with all its many dark shades, I wish to evoke something within the viewer, whether it is anger, sadness, pain or power, something to push them. Push them to speak for the speechless, stand for the sat, empower the powerless, because now is when our earth needs us most. If we don’t answer her call, all our fates will be sealed.
Mining Monsters
(Year 5 Student), (Year 6 Student), Lucy
This wonderful painting was created by three of the Living School’s amazing artists, (Year 5 Student), (Year 6 Student) and Lucy. Our SDG goal is number 14 – Life Below Water. Out artwork was inspired by the wonderful work that Greenpeace has done in relation to preventing deep sea mining.
The artwork explores the problem of deep sea mining where humans are wanting to extract the valuable natural resources that are found on the deep sea floor, which would destroy ecosystems that we don’t know much about yet. We are unsure of the impact this will have but prediction from the past example would suggest that this would have a negative effect.
We have used the element of shape to show that the machine is a monster to be feared of destroying sealife’s home. The element of colour has been used to show the bright life of the deep sea, even though you imagine it to be dark and frightening.
We hope our art-ivism helps the ecosystem of the deep sea to continue to thrive.
Burning Sunset
Year 5 Students
SDG 13: Climate Change/Stop burning fossil fuels
Halve It: Environment
This artwork show trees being burnt down. It shows birds dying and falling from smoke. It shows the forest turning into a desert under the setting sun.
The artist used red, orange and pink to show dryness and heat. Purple and green to show life that cannot be replaced. Black to show sadness.
The message of the artists: ‘This life can’t be replaced.’
One Day
(Year 8 Student), Allie
This work of art is called, ‘One Day’. It was made by a group of talented Australian students who attend Living School in Lismore, NSW. This art is based on SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production.
This art piece is about the pollution that could happen in the future and global warming. The rough state of the paint encapsulates this art piece, this distinct style showing how this matter is real. Using palette knives and plastic with acrylic paint is a match that many ised ut it hard to get right.
The elements of this art is the hape language and the depth of the deep ocean and the ice using shapes and depth, this art piece truly comes to life.
This art piece was made in protest of pollution that happens in the arctic, with grand glaciers and icebergs alike starting to melt, many may write about the diverse wildlife or the arctic circles. We hope that people realise how greedy and horrible some companies are.
The Weeping Orca
Eve, Pearl, Ashley
Three intelligent students from Living School, Eve, Pearl and Ashley, currently in Year 5 and 6, are the creators of this awesome art work. We chose SDG 14, Life Below Water. Our artwork is inspired by the National Wildlife Federation. Our Halve It focus relates to the environment.
Our artwork is intended to help the healthy orcas in captivity. Orcas are being removed from the natural environments and placed in captivity for the purpose of human entertainment. This is extremely distressing for the animals and it also affects the vital food chain. Humans need to stop taking healthy orcas out of nature and into captive homes.
We have experienced with dark contrast colours, different strategy of shade, intense levels of depth, layering different types of textures and elements that draws in the viewer and uts the viewer in the experience of the orcas in need. This is intended to make them sad.
We hope our art-ivism will make people step into action and stop people from captivating safe and healthy orcas from their natural habitats.
If we help the orcas, we save the orcas. Start acting now.
Beauty and the Barrel
Ari and Theo
This artwork, ‘Beauty and the Barrel’, was created by Ari and Theo at Living School who are in Year 5 and 8. The artwork addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on Life Below Water. The artist chose to advocate for halving water, which is a critical step towards minimising human impacts on water ecosystems. Oil spills and dumping oil can kill beautiful creatures in our sea, We are trying to look after our environment. We have strong feelings and are passionate for the ocean’s future.
We like fishing and snorkelling and observe amazing sea creatures. Now we see less fish, we are disappointed. Through the use of various elements of art, the artists convey a message of environmental compassion. Ocean colours make us feel calm and emphasis the beauty of the sea, the need to look after sea creatures in our hearts. Textures and a variety of colours emphasise the complexity of the ocean and its ecosystem. We have promoted awareness of keeping the ocean clean and pristine. Overall, this artwork serves as a visual recall for the urgency of rewilding and cleaning up the oceans and our planet.
Choose Your Fate
Teo, Stella and Siân
This artwork, ‘Choose Your Fate’ is by Teo, Stella and Siân of Living School Year 8 and Year 7. The artwork addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15 which is about Life on Land and Halve It Goal of environment. The artists chose to bring attention to deforestation and protecting animals.
This artwork conveys the importance of raising awareness about climate change through art. Art has a way to provoke thoughts that words alone can not do. By depicting the effects of climate change visually, you can give viewers a deeper level of understanding and empathy.
The amazing artists used line, shape, colours, texture and space to bring their painting to life. The artists focus on animal protection is shown through two extremely contrasting perspectives of a positive and negative environment.
The artwork hopes to inspire viewers to take action and protect life on our planet and minimise climate change. Due to the extreme and confronting views of the environment, the artists believe that this artwork can make a change.
Overall, this artwork encourages individuals to take action and make a positive impact on the environment to help save our home.
Our Touch
Jali and (Year 5 Student)
Do we choose rising oceans or rising actions?
‘Our Touch’ was created by two students at the Living School in Year 5 and Year 8. With the challenges of climate change becoming more apparent and the number of climate refugees increasing, this artwork advocates for Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action. This artwork highlights the effects of rising sea levels caused by pollution, halving pollution is a vital step towards minimising climate change impacts.
The most visible meaning in this artwork is to raise awareness around rising sea levels. However, the underlying goal is to show people that one person can make big differences, especially in a time of crisis. The artists hope that ‘Our Touch’ brings the viewers emotions of empowerment through the uniqueness of art.
Elements of art are regularly used in this artwork. The vivid colour of the nail art draws attention to the disaster depicted. The dark sharp lines of the skyline give perspective and contrast against the vibrant but fading sun.
Promoting the message of halving pollution to reduce global warming and rising sea levels, this artwork is a form of art-ivism. With the hand decorated as the earth, the artwork hopes to show that climate change doesn’t just hurt one person, it hurts the whole world, and inspires everyone to take action.
In all, ‘Our Touch’, provides a visual call to action and empowerment. As the world continues on this negative downward spiral, we must come together to create an impact.
Earth Away
(Year 5 Student) and Sage
This artwork, ‘Earth Away’, was created by two students at Living School in Year 5 and Year 8. They address Sustainable Development Goal 13 which focuses on Climate Action. The artist chose to advocate for halving pollution which is a crucial step towards sustainability and a healthy environment.
The artwork, ‘Earth Away’, aims to promote awareness around climate action. Art has the unique ability to evoke emotions and inspire other artists. Through the use of various elements of art, blending lines, colour and texture, we promote the message of climate action. We tried to use the same colours as how they look in real life. We feel passionate about the future of our earth.
Overall, this artwork serves as a visual call to action, urging individuals to make conscious choices that will eventually help the earth if we all start now. We want to have a positive impact on our future.
Not a Perfect World
Rose, Lui, Vaan, Scarlet, Banksia
This artwork, ‘Not a Perfect World’, was created by five students at Living School in Year 5, Year 6 and Year 7. The artwork addresses Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on Life Below Water. The artists chose to advocate for halving pollution, which is a crucial step towards the earth.
This artwork underscores the critical role of art raising awareness about climate change. Art has a unique ability to evoke emotions and make viewers feel passion about the painting. Through the use of various elements of art, blending the paint together and adding texture to our painting.
By promoting the message of the knowledge that there is too much pollution in the water and turtles are dying. Overall, this artwork serves as a visual call to action, uring individuals to make conscious choices that will help the environment to build a sustainable life.
Don’t Blame, Make Change
Archie and Max
The artwork, ‘Don’t Blame, Make Change’, was created by two students at Living School in Year 6. The artwork addresses Sustainable Development Goal 13, which focuses on Climate Action. The artists chose to advocate for halving pollution and waste which is a crucial step towards a healthy and sustainable ecosystems here on earth.
This artwork aims to provide awareness around critical concepts surrounding climate change and the health of our environment. Evoking emotion can be a difficult take to achieve but art can empower emotions.
Through the use of various elements of art, such as line, colour, shape and collage, we promoted the message of climate action and to stop pollution which will lead to a healthy and sustainable earth.
Overall, this artwork serves as a visual call to action, urging individuals to make conscious choices that will save the world.
Stop Being A Tosser
Linny
I created ‘Stop Being A Tosser’ with my own hand power alone. The artwork addresses SDG 6 which focuses on Clean Water and SDG 14, Life Below Water.
I chose water as my Halve It focus because I love the ocean and fishing. We will destroy the environment if we do not care for our oceans.
I have used colour to show depth and to draw attention to the issue of water pollution.
I aim to inspire viewers to save the waterways and stop being a tosser.
Wasted
Floyd and Sally
This artwork, ‘Wasted’, was created by Floyd and Sally, Year 7 and Year 8 students from Living School. We chose the SDGs 11, 13, 14 and 15 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life Below Water and Life on land. We chose to focus on pollution and environment in regards to Halve It.
We tried to evoke emotion through overwhelming the viewer with as many climate problems as we could.
Our clouds, oil and leaves are full of texture and the strong lines of the boat and buildings were designed to stand out.
Our aim was to inspire viewers to start being aware of themselves and to stop polluting and destroying the planet.
Fish Plastic Cycle
Toto and Theo
This artwork, ‘Fish Plastic Cycle’, was created by Theo and Toto, two smart Year 5 students from Living School.
The artwork focuses on SDG 13 and 14, which are Climate Action and Life Below Water. The Halve It focus is pollution and water.
We painted the cycle of throwing plastic in the water, the fish eat it, then we eat the fish.
We used elements of art to make the viewers feel emotions. We used bright colours for the plastic so it stands out. We also used big, simple shapes to create attention.
Through our artwork, we hope to inspire people to buy reusable products and not throw rubbish in the ocean.
Overall, this artwork aims to bring awareness to plastic pollution and how our actions always impact us.
More Rubbish, Less Life
Alexa and Kotomi
This artwork, ‘More Rubbish, Less Life’, was created by Alexa and Kotomi, two Year 5 students from Living School. The work addresses SDG 14 – Life Below Water and we chose to focus on Halve It – Environment.
We chose to paint a turtle half happy, half sad and what the ocean could be and what it is now.
We used colour, shade and hue to show the bright side and the dark side of this story.
Through our artwork, we hope viewers will know what the world could be if we actually tried.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Action!
Minnie and (Year 6 Student)
This artwork was created by Minnie and (Year 6 Student), a Year 8 and Year 6 students. We chose two Sustainable Development Goals, 13 – Climate Action and 4 – Quality Education. 13 was chosen to represent the melting ice caps killing polar bears. This is why we added the melting ice-cream, making a reflection for the earth and polar bear. 4 was chosen because it is crucial to teach everyone, especially our future generations, what is really happening to the world so that we can SCREAM for action. For Halve It, we chose environment because of our heating planet and melting ice cape.
The elements of art that we used were texture for the polar bear’s fur and rippling water. Colour to show shade and hues. All of this makes you stop and stare, inspiring the viewers to try and do something. Overall, this artwork aims to make you feel wonder and urgency to do something about our melting planet.
The Last Penguins
Loretta, (Year 8 Student) and Indi
The people involved in this creation are, Loretta, Lorien and Indi. We are addressing SDG 14, Life Below Water in this painting. Our Halve It focus is a cross between pollution and environment.
We have tried to evoke emotions in this painting by showing that the ocean is getting filled with things like oil spills, which in turn, is killing the penguins and sea life.
In the sky and the top of the wave, we have used texture, tone and colour to blend it and make it seem more real. We used very well defined shapes for penguins.
We aim to inspire viewers to donate to foundations like Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace and also to reflect on their own impact on the ocean ecosystem, which they don’t usually see in everyday life.
All in all, we aim to raise awareness of the oceans fate with this painting.
Deadfish Dominoes
Piper, Miles, Kasper, Wolfie
This piece of art titled, ‘Deadfish Dominoes’, was created by four Year 7 students, Piper, Miles, Kasper and Wolfie. This artwork was created to highlight the importance of SDGs 6 and 14. These foals focus on the health of water. 6 being Clean Water and Sanitation and 14 being Life Below Water.
This artwork showcases the disaster that took place in the Murray-Darling river, where thousands of Murray Cod floated up to the surface, dead due to the lack of oxygen. This piece also shows the steps that have been taken to get to this point. And the steps that may well be taken if we don’t change our course. Black water events, such as these, cause detrimental effects to the river, causing many plant and animal life populations to rapidly deplete, causing negative effects to the environment and sanitation of the water system.
Unstable Reality
(Year 8 Student)
This piece, ‘Unstable Reality’, was designed by a Year 8 students of Gudji. It is focused on SDG 13 Climate Action.
It shows how the world is majority industries and factories, even though we are working towards sustainability and renewables, it shows how the industry need to set fire to fossil fuels and eliminate greenhouse gasses for a greener, better world.
The Plale
(Year 8 Student)
This wonder of art was designed by a Year 8 students of Gudji at Living School. This follows a work of art-ivism of Sustainable Development Goal 14. Goal 14 is a goal dedicated to protecting and conserving our wildlife in the ocean. Many companies dedicated to work and volunteer to help them.
This texture of this artwork features a bumpy, raised body, showing that the body of the whale is made out of plastic. The background shows the polluted water because of our litter and machines. Leaving rubbish on our floor drains into our oceans and hurts our wildlife underwater.
This artwork has been through decent layers to create a shaping effect of the crumbling plastics qualities.
Ocean In A Bottle
(Year 8 Student)
This design was created by a Year 8 member of Gidji from Living School. This work of art is a work of art-ivism of SDG 14. Sustainable Development Goal 14 focuses on Life Below Water. Helping save animals and protect them from rubbish and our pollution.
This design shows our animals being trapped within our bad creations and fast fashion. Plastics like the plastic bottle the whale and jellyfish are stuck in is rubbish that has blown into our drains and washed into our oceans.
This shows materials from on land and the sea. To design this masterpiece, there were uses of paint brush strokes intricately placed to change the colours and placement of shape.
Gudji Fruit Farms
Flo
This artworks focuses on bees being killed by pesticides which is a huge problem. Bees are a huge part of life. They pollinate flowers which can bloom into fruit and vegetables. 1 in every 3 bites we get from bees. When people use pesticides and a bee lands on the flower, the pesticide infects the bee.
When the bee goes back to the hive, the entire hive can become infected, causing the bee keeper to burn the hive and all the bees inside to stop infection from spreading to other hives. Every bee who lands on a flower infected with pesticide is another life lost. You may think, so what if bees are dying? Well, as hive after hive dies, we, along with bees, creep closer to extinction.
Koala
Willow, Marley, Ryder, Banjo
We have made this artwork to show the impacts of climate change on species like koalas, mainly in southern and eastern Australia. Global warming can make bushfires that burn down koala habitats and more.
We are chopping too many trees.
Feral cats and dogs can kill native wildlife. There are unsustainable practices of forestry all around Australia.
If koala’s homes are burned or chopped down, it will force it to move to another home but what if there isn’t another home to go to and trying to get to another home means crossing roads so it could get run over?
Forestry corp has a history of doing some illegal forestry. They used to cut down habitats and trees! Why do these companies do this? We can have a house but by giving us a house you give native animals from Australia no house.
Split Rivers
Javier, Araluen, (Year 6 Student), (Year 5 Student)
This diptych artwork was made by four students from Living School in Years 5 and 6. We had two students working on each painting. We decided to split the image across two canvases to show the polarity between how the earth could be, and the way we are currently going.
Our art addresses both sustainable development goal 14 and 15, Life Below Water and Life on Land. They are linked because the health of the land impacts the water and the health of the water impacts the land. We wanted our audience to realise that our beautiful country can become a wasteland if we don’t take charge.
Overproduction of oil, chemical and rubbish pollution, land clearing and other unsustainable practices are destroying the health of our rivers. We want our artwork to inspire people to consider the effect of their choices on the land. If we don’t, we will all face the consequences.
The Silver River
Cooper
‘The Silver River’, by Year 5 student Cooper, addresses issues around waterway protection.
This artwork highlights the importance of SDG 14, Life Below Water because there is pollution and goodness.
This artwork uses glitter to add texture but also represents the glittery nail polish that impacts our waterways. It shows the oil pollution that coats animals in toxic oil forever. It also bleaches things and kills trees.
It also places importance on the Halve It goal of water, which we need to protect.
The use of lines show the flow of water.
We MUST stop the use of oil and production of cars, unless they are hybrid.
STOP WATER POLLUTION NOW!!
Fish-dom
(Year 8 Student) and Zai
This artwork was illustrated by to young 13 and 12 year old boys at Living School. The painting named ‘Fish-dom’ outlines the tench Sustainable Development Goal which focuses on Life Below Water, as in fish, crustaceans and other species of water animals and plants.
(Year 8 Student) and Zai decided to end up on Life Below Water because of the overfishing problems in Australian rivers and oceans.
Through the various elements of art and details of the painting, the illustrators centered the focus on the differences of sides, which is sustainable and unsustainable.
You Are Here
Molly and Indie
This artwork was created by Molly M in Year 5 and Indie H in Year 6. We created this artwork of a statue in Lismore in the floods. We chose it because we are sick of our community going through the same terror every year and seeing people lose so much while the government does so little. The floods of 2022 left hundreds of people homeless and some people lost family members and pets.
We want our community to understand how much rubbish we are dumping in our river and how climate change will make natural disasters words. We are commenting on SDG 13, Climate Action. We want to Singapore our leaders to realise how important it is to make change and make sure we don’t leave anyone behind.
Enclosed
Mia, (Year 7 Student) and Eavie
This artwork was created by Mia in year 7, (Year 7 Student) and Eavie in Year 8 from Living School. We are addressing waterways health and Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. We created this artwork to show that keeping animals captive is not ok.
Removing them from ecosystems has a real negative impact on the planet, The real question is, why DO we keep animals captive? The answer is simple, for our own entertainment and greed. How would you feel is someone took you from your home where you were free to roam and put you in a tiny little box?
You aren’t just stripping the animals of a good life, you are disrupting the environment they were in. This artwork was designed to spread awareness about how the animals must feel, and make a statement about the impact of humanity’s greed.
An exceptional El Niño is building. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says it has intensified to very strong levels and is likely to last at least through February 2027. If its current trajectory holds, it could become stronger than anything seen since WMO monitoring began four decades ago.
That is bad news for agriculture. El Niño – a naturally occurring weather phenomenon – can scramble rainfall patterns across the world, bringing drought to some regions and floods to others. And this time it is unfolding against the backdrop of a significantly hotter climate, with farmers already contending with unreliable growing seasons, extreme heat and less predictable rainfall because of global warming.
El Niño expected to bring next record-hot year as soon as 2027
We are seeing the consequences already. In Sri Lanka, drought linked to El Niño has dried wells and reservoirs and cut into crops and farmer incomes. Indonesia is experiencing its worst wildfire season in 11 years, with prolonged drought and extreme heat exacerbated by El Niño. And in Peru, authorities are preparing for the opposite extreme: intense rains, flooding and landslides which the national civil-defence agency says could affect around 1.2 million people.
These impacts will multiply as El Niño intensifies.
And yet, just as the risks to food production are rising, the money available to help farmers withstand them is shrinking.
10% funding decline in 2024
A forthcoming analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that climate-related development finance for agrifood systems is moving in the wrong direction. In 2024, the latest year for which data is available, it fell by 10 percent compared with a 2 percent overall decline. The sectors that put food on our tables — crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries — received just 5 percent.
Yet this is precisely the moment when climate investment in agriculture needs to grow, not shrink. It can help communities adapt, build resilience and protect food security, while unlocking larger flows of public and private finance. Agriculture feeds us, supports the livelihoods of well over a billion people, and is often the first sector hit by drought, floods and extreme heat. Cutting that investment now is a false economy.
One failed harvest can plant the seed for the next crisis, forcing farmers to eat the seed they have saved for planting, sell livestock or tools, or take on debt. It can also deepen food insecurity, disrupt supply chains and drive up prices, showing up months later in supermarket aisles far away.
The Central American Dry Corridor, stretching through much of the region, shows both how exposed farmers are, and what investment can do. Based on an analysis of 41 years of satellite observations, FAO finds that some crop and pasture areas there face more than a 50 percent chance of agricultural drought over the coming months.
About half of Central America’s 1.9 million producers of maize, beans and other basic grains live in the Dry Corridor. Many grow food both for sale and for their own families. When a harvest fails, they lose both income and dinner.
El Salvador project conserves water and soil
In El Salvador, which lies within the Dry Corridor, more than 50,000 farmers have adopted practices to better withstand drought and increasingly unreliable rainfall through RECLIMA, a project financed by the Green Climate Fund and implemented by FAO in partnership with the government of El Salvador. It has substantial national co-financing, including from the country’s Environmental Investment Fund.
El Niño can intensify El Salvador’s annual mid-season dry spell, known as the canícula, turning it into a longer, harsher drought just as maize needs water most.
For María Cristina Corvera de López, a second-generation farmer in rural Nahualapa, adapting means changing how every drop of rain is captured and used. She plants trees alongside her crops to provide shade and minimise evaporation and uses simple irrigation channels and a homemade drip system to conserve water. Instead of burning stalks, leaves and husks after harvest, as generations before her did, she turns them into mulch to hold moisture in the soil.
“The effects of climate change are a constant challenge,” she says. But the new techniques have made her farm more resilient to El Niño as well. Where she once harvested about 50 bags of maize per acre, she now gets around 80, even during droughts. It’s enough to feed her family and sell the surplus.
Managing risk now cuts future costs
Together, these adaptations can mean the difference between losing a crop and getting through a dry season with enough food, seed and income to plant again. They are also the result of climate finance invested before disaster strikes.
RECLIMA shows what that kind of adaptation investment can buy. Adaptation accounted for 45 percent of climate-related development finance to agrifood systems in 2024, and multilateral development banks are directing more agricultural finance towards resilience. That shift reflects a growing recognition that adaptation is a form of risk management, not just a development cost.
We need much more of it. The same investments that help farmers withstand El Niño also enable them to adapt to a hotter, more unpredictable future. Cutting investment in the people who produce our food just as climate risks intensify does not save money. It simply pushes a much larger bill into the next harvest, the next food crisis, and the next El Niño.
The post As El Niño intensifies, we should be investing more in the world’s farmers appeared first on Climate Home News.
As El Niño intensifies, we should be investing more in the world’s farmers
An area of Amazon forest roughly the size of the US state of New Jersey has remained standing due to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s leadership of Brazil, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
Lula beat Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 election to become president of the nation that is home to nearly 60% of the Amazon rainforest.
Forest loss surged during Bolsonaro’s far-right presidency and dropped sharply under the left-wing Lula, with Amazon deforestation likely to hit its lowest level on record this year.
Now, as another presidential election approaches, Lula is facing off against Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio Bolsonaro, whose “anti-environmental” policies are similar to his father’s.
Carbon Brief’s analysis suggests that at least 20,000 square kilometres (km2) of deforestation has been avoided since Lula took office and prioritised Amazon protection.
The analysis is based on modelling by an international research team of an alternative scenario in which Brazil’s flagship forest code legislation was not enforced – a proxy for Jair Bolsonaro’s leadership.
Experts tell Carbon Brief that this estimate is likely “conservative” and that actual deforestation under Bolsonaro could have been “much higher”.
With Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro tied in the polls, the upcoming election is expected to significantly shape the level of environmental action in the world’s fourth-largest emitter, whose emissions are largely driven by deforestation.
‘Brazil is back’
When Jair Bolsonaro was president of Brazil between 2019 and 2022, he championed the nation’s powerful agribusiness sector and oversaw an unprecedented increase in Amazon deforestation.
Bolsonaro weakened regulations, slashed federal agency budgets and empowered illegal activities in the Amazon, while attacking Indigenous and environmental groups.
This meant that the forest code – Brazil’s flagship legislation that requires landowners to preserve and restore forest on their property – was not properly enforced.
After Lula’s presidential victory in 2022, he promised to target “zero deforestation” by 2030, telling the COP27 UN climate summit that “Brazil is back”.
Lula rolled back Bolsonaro’s wave of deregulation and reinstated a deforestation “action plan”. Led by celebrated environmentalist Marina Silva, the environment ministry scaled up enforcement and policing activities in the Amazon.
As a result, annual deforestation in the Amazon has more than halved from 11,594km2 per year in 2022 to 5,731km2 in 2025.
Data from August 2025 to July 2026 – the timespan used in government records – is yet to be released, but preliminary satellite alerts put the deforestation figure at 2,874km2.
While the final figure is likely to be higher, experts still think Amazon deforestation in 2026 could hit its lowest level since records began in 1988.
New Jersey-sized forest
Compared to a scenario in which Bolsonaro won in 2022, Carbon Brief analysis suggests that at least 20,000km2 of Amazon forest remains standing today due to Lula’s leadership.
This area – roughly the size of Wales, Belize, Slovenia or the US state of New Jersey – is indicated by the grey area in the chart below.
This analysis is based on a 2023 study on the role of nature-based solutions in Brazil’s pathway to net-zero emissions. This was a refined update of a 2018 study that used the same GLOBIOM-Brazil model, from researchers at the University of Oxford, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
It is based on a comparison of forest code implementation with a “baseline” scenario in which the code is not enforced, reflecting the kind of weak governance seen under the Bolsonaro administration. (See Carbon Brief’s 2022 article for more details of this modelling.)
Dr Aline Soterroni, a University of Oxford researcher who led the 2023 analysis, tells Carbon Brief that the reversal seen under Lula “shows how quickly deforestation can respond to political will”.
However, she stresses that the modelling of the “no forest code” scenario is “relatively conservative”, with deforestation remaining high but not rising.
Deforestation in this scenario – used here as a proxy for a Bolsonaro election win – is tempered by slower demand growth for Brazilian beef and soy, says Soterroni. She notes that the scenario also does not capture the potential for illegal forest clearing in response to weak governance.
Indeed, some experts anticipated in 2022 that a Bolsonaro victory would send deforestation rates rising to near-record levels.
Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator at Brazil’s Climate Observatory, tells Carbon Brief that if Bolsonaro had won in 2022, “we have reason to believe [this would have resulted] in much higher rates than during his first term”.
Angelo says the “political signal” would likely have driven an “explosion of wildcat mining” and illegal deforestation in the Amazon. He also points to efforts – including by Flávio Bolsonaro – to formally dismantle the forest code in the Brazilian congress, during Jair Bolsonaro’s first term.
Soterroni notes that deforestation rates did not immediately drop following Lula’s election, as suggested by modelling of a full “forest code compliance” scenario. She says this reflects the “gradual and imperfect process” of restoring and enforcing the law.
Nevertheless, she tells Carbon Brief:
“The key message from our modelling is the contrast between these trajectories: weak environmental governance keeps deforestation substantially higher than full implementation of the forest code. That message remains relevant today.”
Election significance
With Jair Bolsonaro in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election, his son Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator for Rio de Janeiro, is standing against Lula in the upcoming contest for president.
There are 13 candidates, but Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula are by far the frontrunners and are currently neck-and-neck in opinion polls.
If Lula wins, experts say he is likely to continue with the “zero deforestation by 2030” agenda that has already had a pronounced impact on forest loss.
As the chart below shows, periods when Amazon deforestation fell in recent history all occurred during Lula’s three terms as president.
In contrast, experts say Flávio Bolsonaro, a climate sceptic who has indicated he will continue his father’s political agenda and favour agribusiness and mining, will likely drive a surge in deforestation. Angelo tells Carbon Brief:
“At the risk of sounding alarmist, I’ve been saying that Lula’s re-election is the only thing standing between us and a wide destruction of the Amazon.”
A Bolsonaro win would be a “tremendous disaster”, says Dr Patricia Pinho, deputy science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, adding:
“I don’t think we can afford four years of increasing deforestation [and] violence against Indigenous peoples.”
Dr David Lapola, an ecologist focused on Amazon research at the University of Campinas in Brazil, says he believes deforestation “would certainly rise” and Brazil’s climate and deforestation goals “would be thrown in the trash bin”. He tells Carbon Brief:
“The Bolsonaro administration in the 2019-2022 period showed that the deconstruction of environmental policies and institutes can be done very, very quickly.
“In a matter of a few months, they can destroy what has been constructed over decades of environmental policy and activism in Brazil.”
‘Greenest’ policies
Lula has the “greenest” policy proposals of Brazil’s six top-polling presidential candidates, according to analysis by the Climate Observatory.
The analysis identifies 16 “positive and detailed” environmental commitments in Lula’s proposals, including reaffirming his “zero deforestation by 2030” goal.
Flávio Bolsonaro, on the other hand, has one positive environmental commitment and seven “clearly anti-environmental” proposals.
The right-wing politician has committed to zero “illegal” deforestation by 2029. However, he has also previously led an attempt to change the forest code, opening up large tracts of previously out-of-bounds forest for legal clearance by extractive industries.
Given this, Angelo tells Carbon Brief that he is sceptical about the 2029 pledge.
“The only way you can trust him on this is to think that he is going to revoke the forest code and make all illegal deforestation legal.”
Lula is also the only major candidate to list a clear target for cutting national emissions, sticking with Brazil’s existing goal to cut emissions by 59-67% by 2035, compared to 2005 levels.
Overall, the Climate Observatory notes that climate change and environmental issues “are off the radar for most candidates”, who are instead focusing on the economy and security issues.
Pinho adds that deforestation and the Amazon have not been at the “forefront” of this election, compared to 2022.
If Bolsonaro wins, up to 95% of the Amazon would fall under the leadership of right-wing national governments – including those in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – reported Mongabay. It noted that presidents in all these nations “explicitly favour agribusiness and mining over environmental conservation”.
If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round of Brazil’s election on 4 October, a runoff will take place on 25 October, as has happened at every presidential election since 1998.
Soy moratorium and Brazilian congress
Other factors will also play a role in future deforestation in Brazil, regardless of the next president.
One is the effective end of the Amazon soy moratorium. This is a voluntary agreement signed by companies committing to not buy soya beans grown on land in the Brazilian Amazon that was deforested after 2008.
Conservation organisation WWF’s international director general, Kirsten Schuijt, previously described it as the “most impactful voluntary supply chain policy ever implemented”.
However, major grain traders withdrew from the agreement earlier this year, effectively bringing it to an end. Pinho describes this move as a “huge destruction” of Brazil’s environmental protections.
Research shows the moratorium prevented around 18,000km2 of deforestation in its first decade of operation from 2005-16.
In contrast, a 2026 study estimated that the end of the moratorium could result in 14,000km2 of additional deforestation in the Amazon by 2036.
Alongside choosing a new president on 4 October, Brazilian voters will elect state governors and members of congress, which will also factor into future environmental impacts.
Right-leaning parties, including the far-right Liberal Party linked to the Bolsonaros, currently hold half the seats of the two chambers of congress.
This has led to conflict between lawmakers and Lula. For example, in 2025, congress bypassed Lula’s veto of several aspects of a controversial piece of legislation dubbed the “devastation bill”.
Pinho says that the potential for a right-wing congress and president would be “devastating for the environmental and climate agenda”.
Lapola notes that a Flávio Bolsonaro presidency “would consolidate the view in Brazil that environmental protection is solely a matter of political preference, and not a crucial need of all people”. He adds:
“Land pillage, destruction of precious biodiversity and scorning of Indigenous peoples simply cannot be a nation’s project in the 21st century. We have got to be smarter than that, for sure.”
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The post Analysis: Lula presidency saved at least 20,000km2 of Brazilian Amazon since 2022 appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: Lula presidency saved at least 20,000km2 of Brazilian Amazon since 2022
This letter is a bit more direct and longer than most of those which I write, but I hope you will be okay with that, because the times seem to call for being plain.
A few weeks ago I got a text message from an old and dear friend —let’s call her Hannah.
I have enough shared life with Hannah that, whenever we talk, the conversation always feels current and effortless, despite gaps of months or even years.
Hannah has been talking with her son — we’ll call him Neil — who is a teenager and doing well in school, but wildly worried about the state of the world, including the imminent trajectory of global warming. Hannah and I don’t text each other other very often, but on this occasion she’s reached out with something visceral:
Neil has challenged me to point him to something hopeful, if I can find it. He says so far no one is showing any will to uphold the Paris Agreement. I am checking in to see how you still manage to have real hope.*
Then, just a few days later, the United Nations Environment Programme Limiting Overshoot report landed, containing the principal finding that it is likely the global temperature will soon exceed 1.5°C.
After that news, and the real time devastation in Nepal, and in the context of the broader state of the world, I found myself having multiple conversations with friends and colleagues about the structure of hope. I want to openly share that after a few of these exchanges, I metaphorically closed the blinds, and wondered how to feel, and what to do, because there is no avoiding the dreadfulness of the news, and what it means for the suffering of people and life on Earth.
But if you are fortunate enough to have time, space and security to do so, then after the darkness, you open the shutters and once again there is light. This is the structure of my innermost resolve.
* * *
Our lives — those of us living on our magnificent earth now — have the greatest possible purpose.
There is virtually no problem that we endlessly clever and creative, human beings cannot solve, when we work together.
And we are not just intelligent and ingenious; we are inherently social, nurturing and brave; capable of the deepest enduring love.
Each of the roughly 12,000 generations of humanity so far has made life possible for those who have followed, through acts of devotion.
Babies have been held and fed. Water and food have been found and shared. Shelter has been built. For 12,000 generations we have held the hands of our children.
Every single one of us was once carried in the arms of another, unable to walk ourselves. It is our thoughtfulness, kindness and care that have seen us through as a species. Sometimes this has been in the most exigent of circumstances, when enough of our ancestors did not give in, faced incredibly difficult things, to somehow make it through.
And so it comes to this. To what we now must do. We must do as 12,000 generations of people did for us.
The struggle to keep global warming to under 1.5 degrees may be over. The battle of return—to get our planet back to safe temperatures at emergency speed and scale — is just beginning. Upon this struggle depends the future of all we care about, and that of all life on Earth. The prospects of the next 12,000 generations are conditioned by our efforts now.
Our work now is to keep the overshoot as low as we can, make it as brief as possible, and do everything within our power to alleviate other pressures on nature. It is to take care of humanity — of one another — in the face of mounting climate and ecological damage. And by these efforts, create the conditions for future flourishing. Every fraction of every degree matters.
What must now be done is hard, much tougher than should have been necessary, because of the vested interests in coal, oil and gas and deforestation, and the failures of decision makers. And while renewable energy has surged, making the case for change much simpler, on the other side of the ledger there’s the reactionary and gangsterist turn of politics and the multiplier effects of wars and mass violence, with the existential destabilisation of big tech looming over all.
There is no sugarcoating the scale of difficulty. But what is necessary remains within our collective power. We must never, for one second, say that returning our planet to flourishing is impossible — many of the obvious solutions already exist; but even where transformation relies on reforms, technologies or capabilities that might sound fanciful, or historical changes that are unprecedented, this can be no barrier to our conviction. After all, much of what we take for granted today as ordinary features of social life, would have been considered impossible by every single generation before us.
The world has not been destroyed by nuclear war; we solved the growing hole in the ozone layer; Antarctica was kept sacrosanct from exploitation. Humanity has collectively triumphed before, and can do so again.
We can find the necessary social and political will to do what is needed because these are endlessly renewable resources. The necessary financial capital exists. Apart from the fossil fuel industry, the greatest barrier we face is to mistakenly concede that what lies before us is insurmountable. It is not.
We must avoid the siren song of fatalism. Because. It. Is. Never. Too. Late.
None of which is to be insensitive to the horrors already unleashed — the deadly and grotesque harm to people, places and species that cannot be undone; or to be blind to the impacts that are coming. But where we have the power to act, we also have the responsibility — and the extraordinary privilege — to do what must be done.
Although she is wounded, our planet is still alive and beautiful beyond all of our comprehension. Hundreds of billions of creatures live and thrive still upon this earth. Nothing has happened until it has happened, and life fights for life. Every beetle, every tree, all the fish in the ocean, the smallest of the geothermal shrimps, the greatest of the whales and the mightiest of the birds — all demand life every second of their existence, so that their species too may have future generations.
No individual has to know how to solve this alone. Indeed, finding some detachment and humility is essential to concentrate on the role that each of us can play.
Hope is not merely a mindset or a story we tell ourselves. Collective power is not abstract; it is what we do, together, applying ourselves to the practical mechanics of change and contestation within society, by being part of the organisations and networks of people that are dedicated to effective strategies. It is why I am so committed to Greenpeace.
Working from without and within, there are opportunities to make rapid change within institutions, governments, businesses and communities to create the social, economic and political momentum for emissions reduction at speed and scale, reminding ourselves always of what remains possible, even if it hasn’t happened yet.
We can return the planet to safer temperatures. We can put technologies back in the service of people and life. We can return to the assumptions that seemed so obvious just one generation ago — that it is both possible, and our obligation, to build a better future for all people, and for life on Earth.
I did write back to Hannah and Neil, to say honestly to a treasured friend and her son, that yes, as a matter of faith, conviction, evidence and strategy, absolutely there is real hope. And this is a pledge not just to Neil and his generation, but to the next 12,000.
Together, we have the power. Together, we cross this bridge through the dark. To secure an Earth capable of nurturing life in all of its magnificent diversity.
We did not choose to carry this historic responsibility, but here we are. And it is so lucky that we are here.
I wouldn’t choose any other time to be here, alive on Earth, with you.
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