Brazil Spotlight: our brand new environment column for producers

“Our planet is headed for disaster.” David Attenborough issued his starkest warning yet about the climate emergency last month in a Netflix documentary A Life On Our Planet. He brings urgency to a discourse that has been ongoing for decades but gaining momentum in recent months. We keep hearing that the next decade is going to be critical. The year 2030 has been set as a marker by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for us to cut our carbon dioxide emissions by 45% in order to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5ºC this century. 

All of us, and the governments we vote for, have a part to play in tackling this crisis. Brazil has an especially important part, however. It is the most biologically diverse country in the world, home to 10 to 18 per cent of the world’s plant and animal species. It’s also home to the world’s largest rainforest: the Amazon. The unrestricted expansion of agribusiness has made it one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters, and led to high rates of deforestation and soil degradation. 

Story Productions has seen the media spotlight shine ever brighter on Brazil in recent years. From filming documentaries to news and current affairs programs, television crews have travelled with us to the Amazon from the UK, USA, and Germany, covering a broad range of stories from the fertile black soil in the Amazon, to the Saharan dust falling on the rainforest, to the healthcare challenges for the Amazon’s remote river communities and the fires that made global headlines in 2019. 

For television producers, Brazil will be staying in the spotlight as the climate emergency unfurls. That’s why we’re launching Brazil Spotlight, a monthly column that will explore the hottest topics relevant to Brazil. Our columnist Ricardo Arnt will delve into interesting stories about the environment, climate change, economics and politics.

We want to help producers and documentary makers around the world stay one step ahead of the headlines, and inspire them to dig deeper into gripping personal stories. We can be a bridge to experts, and a local production partner when it comes to filming in Brazil.

More from Brazil Spotlight

Ricardo Arnt has more than forty years experience working as a journalist, author, and editor in Brazil. He was director of Planeta magazine and TV Bandeirantes; editor of Exame magazine, Folha de São Paulo and Superinteressante (published by Editora Abril); international editor of Jornal Nacional, the nightly news programme on TV Globo; not to mention the author of ten book titles including O Que os Economistas Pensam sobre Sustentabilidade (Trinta e Quatro, 2010) (“What Economists Think about Sustainability”). 

“It’s with great pleasure and a lot of excitement that we are launching this column with Ricardo to talk about important topics in Brazil,” says Nick Story, director of Story Productions. “It’s a game changer for us and I hope that people will find it useful as a trusted source of information. Welcome on board Ricardo!”