“Don’t sponsor” – The ‘Amazon Desert Rally’. A powerful call by sport to protect one of the great natural regions of the world

According to research by IPAM, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, half of the countries in the Amazon region have seen a 30% reduction in surface water in the last 40 years. Deforestation and global climate change is impacting the local climate in the region creating a vicious spiral of increasing temperatures, reduced precipitation, longer dry periods and drier forests becoming more flammable resulting in frequent forest fires.

To highlight the severity of the problem that the Amazon region faces, a group of indigenous people have teamed up with the Stock Car Pro series to use rallying to showcase the impact that climate change and deforestation is having on the rivers and the region as a whole.

The ‘Amazon Desert Rally’ aims to showcase the environmental crisis that the region faces with a group of rally drivers driving down vast tracks of dried river, with the slogan “Don’t sponsor this race,” telling people that this will happen if we don’t take action now to reduce human impact on vast ecosystems like the Amazon forest.

“Everyone loves sport and sport is the way we think we can get this message out to the people of the world about the huge environmental crisis we are facing in the Amazon region,” stated Paulo Moutinho, senior researcher at IPAM.

IPAM has been monitoring huge tracts of the Amazon River since 1985, and has witnessed the devastating impact that land grabbing and illegal logging is having on the region.

“For every tree cut down, 25 are killed, causing a huge reduction in moisture, making forests more flammable and more exposed to fires,” commented Moutinho

Land grabbing of public land has been a huge problem in the last decade, linked to illegal gold mining, drug and gun cartels. Organised crime has taken control of vast areas of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, and Roraima, resulting in over 142,000 hectares of illegal deforestation. This represents 38% of the total region, an area the size of the city of the Brazilian city of São Paulo, devastated by illegal logging in just one year.

The Amazon may be closer to irreversible transformations due to the dual impact of deforestation and global warming on the biome. About 47% of the Amazon forest is expected to enter a trajectory of irreversible degradation by 2050, according to a study published in the journal Nature, one of the leading scientific publications.

Drought in the Amazon region is having a huge impact on biodiversity in the region as well as human water supply, fishing activity and farming.

Some 20% of Brazil’s GDP (gross domestic product) comes from agriculture, meaning farming is hugely important, but without good water supply, this important industry for the country is greatly under threat.

“Don’t sponsor” – The ‘Amazon Desert Rally’ project is a call for immediate action to preserve one of our planet’s most precious natural resources.

“Have you ever stopped to think about where the wood for the furniture in your home came from, like the chair you’re sitting on? Often, we don’t realise the responsibility we have as consumers and as a society in general. If you combat the use of Amazonian resources, even if it’s just in your home, you’ll already be helping to preserve the forest – hence our slogan, ‘Don’t sponsor this race’. That’s why all stages of the Stock Car have zero carbon emissions. And much more is yet to come,” says Fernando Julianelli, Chief Executive of Vicar, the category’s promoter.

“A rally always reminds us of an adventure. Where nature should be the protagonist. Without forests or flowing rivers, the coldness of steel will be our destiny, and that of those who come,” added Moutinho. “We need to think about the products we buy and the preciousness of water. Sport has the power to change minds and to raise awareness of the fragility of the world we live in”

Whatever you do “Don’t sponsor” – The ‘Amazon Desert Rally’ is a powerful call to protect one of the great natural wonders of the world, and to sports organisations to play a greater role in raising awareness of the urgent need to protect our environment and the natural world that we rely on for our future.