On a mission to help protect the Amazon rainforest

Brandeis Stories

On a mission to help protect the Amazon rainforest

By Julian Cardillo '14
September 15, 2025

To Gustavo Nascimento '27, the Amazon isn't just a region of global importance - it's home.

The environmental studies and anthropology major, who is also minoring in Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies, grew up in Brazil. At Brandeis he is studying with a mission: to help protect the world's most vital ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

This past summer, Nascimento interned with the Science Panel for the Amazon, a coalition of nearly 300 scientists working to share, compile and amplify research on the Amazon's ecology, climate and human cultures. The panel, part of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network based in New York, convenes experts from around the world to drive action on environmental protection.

Nascimento joined its newly formed youth committee last year. As a committee member, he helped design programming and workshops to engage young people across the Amazonian region on topics like conservation and social equity. He also contributed to a global youth manifesto advocating for the protection of the Amazon, which will be presented at COP30, the upcoming UN climate conference in Brazil.

"We're creating a manifesto with young people from across the Amazonian countries about our demands from governments for the conservation of the forest, the health of the forest, and the communities that live there," Nascimento explains. "It feels amazing to be part of this. We're connecting with so many people to share knowledge and advocate for the forest and its communities."

As an intern, his role expanded. In addition to continuing youth programming and his work on the manifesto, Nascimento supported the Science Panel's publications team by assisting with research and tracking citations. While the work was remote, he recently visited their office in São Paulo State, roughly an hour from his home.

"It feels amazing to be part of this. We're connecting with so many people to share knowledge and advocate for the forest and its communities."

Gustavo Nascimento '27

Nascimento values opportunities to contribute to research. Last year, he conducted his own project with funding from Brandeis, studying the Rights to Nature legal movement, which seeks to grant legal status and human rights to rivers and other natural entities.

"Brandeis gave me the resources to pursue what I wanted to do," says Nascimento. "It's not common for undergraduates elsewhere to get funding to do independent research," he says. "At Brandeis, it is."

Looking ahead, Nascimento plans to pursue graduate school and dreams of working at the United Nations.

"It sounds counterintuitive to want to join the UN because it's a large organization that makes progress slowly," he admits. "But since it has the greatest reach of any organization in the world, even a small impact can make a big difference."