A campaign to raise awareness about the need to protect the Brazilian cerrado, known as the “cradle of waters”, was launched in November in Brazil and also in the cities of London, England, and Glasgow, Scotland, during the Conference of the United Nations on Climate Change (COP26).
Promoted by RPMM Global, in partnership with Rede Sementes do Cerrado (RSC) – a non-profit organization that works with traditional communities in the Cerrado, the campaign “No Vaccine For Climate Change”, translated into Portuguese, “there is no vaccine for climate change”, aims to raise funds to continue supporting ecological restoration activities, dissemination of knowledge and income generation for traditional communities in the Cerrado, through a campaign crowdfunding.
It is urgent that actions to preserve biodiversity are carried out, especially in the Brazilian Cerrado, the second largest biome in Brazil and Latin America. For Mario Matos, founder of RPMM Global, “the Cerrado biome is considered the water reservoir in Brazil and the RSC is an organization capable of contributing a lot to the recovery of degraded areas. The RSC unites communities to replant areas lost to intensive agriculture and reverse the damage being done”, he explains.
Launch actions took place in different cities around the world
In Brazil, a plane with the #novaccineforclimatechange banner flew over the city of Rio de Janeiro and some of its famous beaches, including Copacabana, Ipanema, Leme and Leblon, as it is a place of great national visibility. The objective was to draw attention and generate people's engagement for the cause, marking and sharing # on social networks.
“Our campaign, in addition to drawing attention to climate change, also seeks to raise funds to be applied in preserving the Cerrado. I believe that the protection of any biome does not just happen through the method of abandonment, much less slowing down the development of a country. In our case, we point out the newest method of regeneration in the Cerrado, through harvesting and subsequently releasing seeds in a certain degraded area. We are at an early stage of the campaign, and we hope to raise funds through the 2 crowdfunding platforms that have already been launched. Despite the difficulties, our objective is to increase donations by holding an event and, who knows, a gala dinner in London,” says Raphael Collares, RPMM Global's director of operations in Brazil.
RPMM Global also released a video of the campaign, which was hosted by Chelsea footballer Ruben Loftus-Cheek (www.instagram.com/rlc/), for audiences in key London venues, including the Houses of Parliament, along with sites in Glasgow, where COP26 took place. Watch the video below.
The narration was provided by the actress Milanka Brooks (Black Mirror, The Windsors, Four weddings and a funeral and music was provided by the band The Irrepressibles.
Fundraising campaign has a “tupiniquim” platform
In order to collect donations in Brazil, a platform was created on the Benfeitoria website, in Portuguese, with the aim of breaking down the language barrier and increasing the confidence of Brazilians in donations to the campaign. This collection will last for 60 days and also includes the participation of the artist Aline Mollo (https://www.instagram.com/alinesart2021/), which will provide some frames to boost hits on the platform and help achieve the campaign's goal. Artists who are also interested in joining the cause can donate works to boost the campaign at Benfeitoria. The works will be donated as a reward, as a consideration in a win-win relationship.
The aim of #novaccineforclimatechange is to raise £100,000 to help RSC. For the Brazilian campaign, donations can be made by campaign website.
Event in London will raise funds for the Brazilian Cerrado
For 2022, RPMM Global is planning to present “RPMM Live: A Music Festival Experience – A Planet-Size Awareness”, an annual live music and entertainment event to raise awareness of climate change. The event will take place in Greenwich, London, England, at the Old Royal Naval College and the central theme will be the preservation of the Cerrado biome and the consequences of climate change that has been affecting our Planet, highlighting the partnership with RSC.
About the Brazilian Cerrado
The Cerrado is home to eight of the twelve Brazilian hydrographic basins and is one of the regions with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, home to 5% of all species, including more than 1,600 types of mammals, birds and reptiles, and more than 12,000 species of plants. In recent years, this region has been devastated by arson and the advance of the agricultural frontier, especially for the production of commodities.
“The Cerrado is ending, more than 50% has already been deforested due to the advance of the agricultural frontier. CSR is one of the solutions to this great problem through the promotion of ecological restoration associated with the local and traditional communities of the biome. With this, we are able to make gains in the environmental area and also in the social and economic issue for the peoples”, adds Camila Motta, biologist and president of RSC.
In recent weeks, the organization was featured on National Geographic and on TV Globo's Globo Repórter program, which highlighted the beauty of the Brazilian cerrado and the work that RSC performs to preserve the biome. With more than 2 million square kilometers, the Cerrado is located in the most central part of Brazil, including the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Distrito Federal.
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