Brazilian scientist Carlos Nobre made Royal Society fellow

Carlos Nobre. Photo: Reinaldo Canato/Folhapress

Brazilian climatologist Carlos Nobre was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society. He becomes the first Brazilian to join the world’s oldest scientific society since Emperor Pedro II did so in 1871 — although not as a scientist, but as a royal.

Mr. Nobre is a senior researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo, the scientific director at the Institute for Climate Studies at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, and the director of the Amazon Third Way Initiative/Projeto Amazon 4.0.

Based in London, the Royal Society selects scientists considered exceptional for their contribution to their field. Mr. Nobre won the honor for his studies on how deforestation in the Amazon contributes to climate change around the world and sustainable forest development projects.

He was one of the first to point out, back in the 1990s, that the Amazon was at risk of reaching a point of no return due to deforestation — which would deprive the rainforest of much of its great biodiversity, transforming it into a savanna-like biome. If that point is finally achieved, it would be practically impossible for the world to fulfill its climate commitments as established by the Paris Agreement.

Amanda Audi

Amanda Audi is a journalist specializing in politics and human rights. She is the former executive director of Congresso em Foco and worked as a reporter for The Intercept Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Gazeta do Povo, Poder360, among others. In 2019, she won the Comunique-se Award for best-written media reporter and won the Mulher Imprensa award for web journalism in 2020