“Forests are at the heart of a solution to the climate crisis”

Text: Christine Wollowski

She was shaped in part by the long summers at her grandmother’s house: it was between the beach and the coastal rainforest in the Brazilian state of São Paulo that Carolle Alarcon developed her close connection to nature. “My granny used compost and would plant trees and shrubs in amongst her crops – that is to say she engaged in agroforestry before most people had even heard of the term,” recalls the scientist, who since March 2024 has headed the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, an organisation committed to a low-carbon econ­omy in Brazil.

After graduating in environmental management and working for various non-governmental organ­isations and on research projects, Carolle Alarcon completed a master’s degree in tropical forestry at Dresden University of Technology from 2016 to 2018 as part of the DAAD’s Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) programme. “That marked a turning point in my career: I had already done a lot of field work, but then I began forging inter­national contacts.” Alarcon is convinced that the ­climate can only be protected by working in inter­national networks. She explains that she has always built ­bridges during the course of her career – ­between the indigenous population and land­owners, between the government and traditional communities, between civil society and government representatives. “I believe in dialogue!”

In her current position she fosters exchange between two sides that are generally viewed as irreconcilable opponents: representatives of intensive farming and environmental activists. “Both share the same interests in many areas,” says Carolle Alarcon: “One thing we focus on for example is payments to compensate landowners for taking steps to protect the environment. We helped enshrine such payments in Brazilian law and are now involved in gradually implementing them. In some areas, large landowners are legally entitled to cut down the trees on up to 80 percent of their land. Compensatory payments provide them with an important incentive to leave the forest in place.”

And indeed more of the forest is being left in place just now: in February 2025, 64 percent less deforestation was recorded in the Amazon region than a year earlier. Alarcon also reports: “We are working to ensure sustainable forest use along the lines I saw being practised in Germany.” Another thing she believes especially important is to regulate supply chains: “If we can trace every cow from birth via the fattening process to export, we can ensure that no forests are destroyed for the production of the meat.” —