Call for papers for dossier (2025.2 Edition) – The Nexus of Crises in the Amazon: Climate, Biodiversity, and Health

The submission period is now open for contributions to the dossier The Nexus of Crises in the Amazon: Climate, Biodiversity, and Health of Somanlu: Journal of Amazonian Studies, to be published in the first half of 2025. Submissions must be made by November 21, 2025.

Editors:
Dr. Tiago da Silva Jacaúna / Universidade Federal do Amazonas
Dr. Gabriela Marques Di Giulio / Universidade de São Paulo

The current global context can be understood through multiple interconnected crises, such as the loss of biodiversity, scarcity and quality of water, food insecurity, health risks, and climate change. The Amazon lies at the epicenter of these overlapping crises, as its immense socio-biodiversity and its role in regulating the global climate are constantly threatened by economic interests incapable of coexisting sustainably with nature. As a result, these crises manifest in the advance of deforestation for agricultural expansion, river contamination caused by illegal mining, food insecurity affecting both traditional communities and urban centers, climate extremes that isolate and displace hundreds of people, and the emergence of various diseases that reveal the fragility of a poorly coordinated governance system with limited capacity to manage the complex relationships between climate, biodiversity, and health.

Historically, the Amazon has been treated as a frontier for national and international capitalist expansion under state control; nature and its benefits have been viewed merely as sources of profit, while traditional peoples and communities have been neglected and their territories disregarded. This process has generated a series of violences and destruction that, in the context of the climate crisis, places the region at a critical turning point: either the current trajectory of exploitation shifts toward a path where the protection of socio-biodiversity, the safeguarding of traditionally occupied territories, and sustainability are integrated into development initiatives, or the ongoing crises will threaten life as we know it—especially for the most vulnerable sectors of society.

Data from MapBiomas reveal that between 1985 and 2024, the Amazon lost 12.2% of its forest cover—approximately 52 million hectares, equivalent to the territory of France. This has resulted in biodiversity loss and contributed to increased carbon emissions. At the same time, the region has faced recurrent climatic extremes, marked by floods and droughts that inundate cities and vast areas, causing isolation and shortages for a significant portion of the population. The health implications are severe, including food insecurity—particularly in degraded or urban areas—deteriorating water quality, the spread of diseases, and mental health issues.

This dossier adopts the “nexus” approach as a central analytical framework, which can contribute to more effectively addressing these multiple crises. This concept enables an understanding of the interrelations between climate, biodiversity, and health crises, helping to overcome the sectoral approach to governance and promoting an integrated, synergy-driven model. Focusing on the interconnections among the crises of climate, biodiversity, and health makes the nexus approach a productive lens for grasping the Amazon’s complexity.

In this context, the dossier invites researchers addressing Amazonian crises from different perspectives to contribute studies and analyses that reveal the multiple layers of complexity in the region, fostering the development of public policies aimed at identifying viable alternatives. We welcome articles that explore the impacts of the climate crisis on traditional peoples and communities in the Amazon; the challenges and threats to health promotion; issues of food and water security; Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and their relationship with health and biodiversity; land use and occupation and their implications for biodiversity, health, and climate; and the role and challenges of Amazonian cities in facing these multiple crises. The ultimate goal of this dossier is to discuss approaches and possibilities for confronting the multiple crises shaping the contemporary Amazon, focusing on the crises of climate, biodiversity, and health.