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Voices from the South

Voices from the South

By: The Conversation Brasil
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 A journey between Brazil and Australia to discover what scientists from the two largest countries in the Southern Hemisphere are doing to combat the effects of climate change.The Conversation Brasil Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Future: Tomorrow’s energy, today

    Future: Tomorrow’s energy, today
    Mar 29 2026

    In this fifth and final episode of Voices from the South, we’ll explore a possible future: one in which renewable energy succeeds in fulfilling its promise to rival fossil fuels, to the point of neutralizing—or at least reducing—the effects of climate change.

    To do this, we return to the Amazon to discover how scientists are producing increasingly efficient—and economically viable—fuels from sources as diverse as oil extracted from the acai berry. Or from cyanobacteria and microalgae found in Amazonian rivers and lakes, which are already being used as raw material for aviation fuel, replacing highly polluting aviation kerosene.

    We also revisited the Australian coast, this time to learn about energy generated and naturally replenished by ocean waves. Studies conducted by the Marine Energy Research Australia (MERA) center at the University of Western Australia show that harnessing the kinetic energy provided by waves can generate hundreds of gigawatts per year, enough to light up entire cities.

    ***

    In five episodes, “Voices from the South” presents the results of dozens of interviews with academics and custodians of the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples in both countries regarding the science behind combating forest fires, the impacts of mining, the warming of ocean waters, and the influence of agriculture and livestock on global warming. The podcast also highlights examples of innovation that Brazil and Australia—where the power of the sun, wind, rivers, and waves abound—are developing in the field of renewable energy.

    This is the essence of the adventure that our team of journalists, led by Environment Editor Luciana Julião, undertook to produce “Voices from the South".

    “Voices from the South” is a co-production of The Conversation Brasil with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), funded by the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) and with strategic consulting from The Conversation Media Group.

    ***

    Voices from the South, Episode 5 “Future: Tomorrow’s Energy, Today”

    Episode guests:

    1 - Hilson Rabelo, artisan and owner of the company Fibras da Amazônia

    2 - Luís Adriano Nascimento, professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Pará and deputy coordinator of the Amazon Oils Laboratory

    3 - Gilberto Januzzi, professor of Energy Systems at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Unicamp and senior researcher at the Center for Energy Planning (NIPE)

    4 - Hugh Wolgamot, senior researcher at the Marine Energy Research Australia (MERA) center at the University of Western Australia

    ***

    “Voices of the South” Team:

    Editorial coordination and narration: Luciana Julião

    Script: Luciana Julião, with assistance from Luciana Colodete

    English narration: Melissa Garcia

    English version script: Gustavo Almeida

    Research: Fernando Vives (Australia), Luciana Colodete, Luciana Julião, and Mariana Moreira (Brazil)

    Fact-checking: Fernando Vives and Luciana Colodete

    Editing, soundtrack, and mixing: Bruno Cysne

    Translations: Paulo Mussoi

    Voice-overs: Eleven Labs

    Social media: Carolina Aleixo

    Audiovisual: Paulo Mussoi and Carolina Aleixo

    Visual identity: Laura Garcia

    Scientific consulting: Maria Ataide Malcher, Federal University of Pará (UFPA)

    UFPA Team: Arlene Cantão Costa, Ana Teresa Lima Nascimento, Bismaike da Silva Santos, Victor Hugo Pinheiro dos Santos, Marcus Anderson Batista Leal, and Natália da Silva Maia de Almeida

    Executive Production: Daniel Stycer and Paulo Mussoi
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    36 mins
  • Mining: Problematic, but essential

    Mining: Problematic, but essential
    Mar 29 2026
    Mining is a key industry for both Australia and Brazil. Australia is the world’s leading producer of iron ore and lithium, and the second-largest exporter of coal and zinc. In Brazil, iron ore is also the mining sector’s most important product. We are the world’s second-largest producer, trailing only Australia…Brazil also has vast reserves of niobium, rare earths, and graphite… Australia has lithium, nickel, and cobalt… And while they work to establish themselves in these new markets for minerals that are fundamental to the economy of the future, Brazil and Australia still have to strive to make traditional mining a less environmentally damaging activity.Especially in Brazil—where the collapses of mining tailings dams in the mining towns of Mariana in 2015 and Brumadinho in 2019—left a trail of deaths, pollution, and deep public distrust of mining. Brumadinho is even considered the worst workplace accident in Brazil’s history and the second-largest industrial disaster of the century worldwide.Even so, neither country can nor should even consider reducing its mining activities. Instead, they must invest in research and development to make operations as clean and safe as possible, balancing the generation of wealth that ensures economic and social growth with environmental preservation.This observation—seemingly frustrating, especially for those who have witnessed accidents and live closely with the disruptions caused by mining—was a consensus reached by our team during the research for the episode “Mining: Inconvenient, but Essential,” the fourth in the “Voices from the South” series, which you can listen to now.In this episode, we spoke with experts from both countries to understand the current state of mining development and what scientists are doing to restore land depleted by mining and reintegrate it into the environment—in some cases, through extractive activities once again, but grounded in principles of sustainability. Don’t miss this latest chapter of our scientific adventure through the two largest countries in the Southern Hemisphere, in the company of Luciana Julião and our producer in Australia, Fernando Vives.***In five episodes, “Voices of the South” presents the results of dozens of interviews with academics and custodians of the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples in both countries regarding the science behind combating forest fires, the impacts of mining, the warming of ocean waters, and the influence of agriculture and livestock on global warming. The podcast also highlights examples of innovation that Brazil and Australia—where the power of the sun, wind, rivers, and waves abound—are developing in the field of renewable energy.This is the essence of the adventure that our team of journalists, led by Environment Editor Luciana Julião, undertook to produce “Voices from the South,”.“Voices from the South” is a co-production of The Conversation Brasil with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), funded by the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) and with strategic consulting from The Conversation Media Group.***Voices of the South, Episode 4: “Mining: Problematic, but essential”Episode guests:1 - Pedro Walfir, geologist and professor at the Institute of Geosciences, Federal University of Pará2 - Stuart Walsh, professor and deputy director of research at Monash University3 - Sandra Moura, professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Ouro Preto and coordinator of the Apicrim project4 - Elza Cunha Cabral, biologist, beekeeper, and participant in Apicrim5 - Maria Elena Crespo-López, professor at the Federal University of Pará and one of the founders of the Amazon Mercury Institute6 - Saimon Moraes Silva, director of the Biomedical and Environmental Sensors Technology Center (BEST) at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia)7 - Angélica Andrade, Master of Philosophy from the Institute for Sustainable Mining at the University of Queensland***“Voices of the South” Team:Editorial coordination and narration: Luciana JuliãoScript: Luciana Julião, with assistance from Luciana ColodeteEnglish narration: Melissa GarciaEnglish version script: Gustavo AlmeidaResearch: Fernando Vives (Australia), Luciana Colodete, Luciana Julião, and Mariana Moreira (Brazil)Fact-checking: Fernando Vives and Luciana ColodeteEditing, soundtrack, and mixing: Bruno CysneTranslations: Paulo MussoiVoice-overs: Eleven LabsSocial media: Carolina AleixoAudiovisual: Paulo Mussoi and Carolina AleixoVisual identity: Laura GarciaScientific consulting: Maria Ataide Malcher, Federal University of Pará (UFPA)UFPA Team: Arlene Cantão Costa, Ana Teresa Lima Nascimento, Bismaike da Silva Santos, Victor Hugo Pinheiro dos Santos, Marcus Anderson Batista Leal, and Natália da Silva Maia de AlmeidaExecutive Production: Daniel Stycer and Paulo Mussoi
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    47 mins
  • Fire and livestock: Challenges for two World's breadbaskets

    Fire and livestock: Challenges for two World's breadbaskets
    Mar 29 2026
    It is easy for anyone concerned about nature to imagine the Amazon preserved as a virgin forest, untouched by the destructive hand of man...Nothing could be further from the truth.Brazilian scientists now know that, far more than an immaculate forest, the Amazon is an immense garden, shaped over centuries by the hands of the peoples who lived there and managed the soil and seeds for the benefit of their cultures, yet with an ancestral mindset of respect, preservation, and integration with nature."Human presence helps the Amazon rainforest, because human management increases biodiversity, it does not decrease it. (...) The landscape we see in the forest today has been entirely managed. Even today, if you dig in some regions of the forest, you’ll find what we call ‘black Indian soil’: a distinct fertility, with remnants of a community that lived there for hundreds, thousands of years,” says anthropologist Flávio Barros, a professor at the Federal University of Pará.Flávio is one of the interviewees in the third episode of the podcast Voices from the South: “Fire and Livestock: Challenges of Two Breadbaskets of the World.”In this episode, we speak with Brazilian ecologists in Brazil and fire management experts in Australia to explore concepts that challenge conventional wisdom and demonstrate that human intervention can and should be beneficial to vast and fragile ecosystems. And history proves this, through research into the activities of Indigenous peoples —both in Brazil and Australia—and their millennia-old wisdom regarding seed manipulation, the use of fire, and many other silvicultural techniques through which they interacted with nature, learning to extract from it the fruits of their survival without affecting the functioning of the ecosystem in which they lived and, in many cases, learning to optimize its potential and exuberance.Fire is, therefore, an important element that our team explored in both countries, showing how what is today a major villain against conservation was once—and can still be—a powerful tool for conservation and the development of techniques that do not destroy the forest and support a healthy extractive economy.Keeping the great forests standing today is an even more crucial challenge, due to global warming and climate change. Along with the oceans, they are the major absorbers of the excess carbon produced by the economic activities of the globalized world. One of these sources, especially in Brazil and Australia, is livestock farming. That’s why, in this episode, our team also investigated what scientists in both countries are doing to minimize greenhouse gas emissions generated by their cattle herds, which are among the largest in the world. And we discovered how creativity and knowledge are being used to find nature-based solutions that are already beginning to mitigate this major problem.Don’t miss all this and much more in the third episode of the “Vozes do Sul” podcast.***In five episodes, “Voices from the South” presents the results of dozens of interviews with academics and custodians of the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples in both countries regarding the science behind combating forest fires, the impacts of mining, the warming of ocean waters, and the influence of agriculture and livestock on global warming. The podcast also highlights examples of innovation that Brazil and Australia—where the power of the sun, wind, rivers, and waves abound—are developing in the field of renewable energy.This is the essence of the adventure our team of journalists, led by Environment Editor Luciana Julião, undertook to produce “Voices from the South”. “Voices of the South” is a co-production of The Conversation Brazil with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), funded by the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) and with strategic consulting from The Conversation Media Group.***Voices from the South, Episode 3: “Fire and Livestock: Challenges for Two of the World’s Breadbaskets”Episode guests:1 - Flávio Barros, anthropologist and professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA)2 - Juarez Pezzuti, biologist and professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA)3 - Angela Pellin, researcher, Evaluation and Monitoring Advisor, and Project Coordinator at IPÊ – Institute for Ecological Research4 - Tainan Kumaruara, president of the Women’s Association of the village of Muruary (Santarém, Pará) and coordinator of the Guardiões Kumaruara fire brigade5 - Sarah Smith, community director of the Fire to Flourish program6 - Michael Battaglia, leader of the “Mission to Net Zero” at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); Research Director and Board Director at FutureFeed ## “Voices of the South” Team:***“Voices of the South” TeamEditorial coordination and narration: Luciana JuliãoScript: Luciana Julião, with assistance from Luciana ColodeteResearch:...
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    45 mins
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