Q & A: Paulo Pereira
Final thoughts
Passionate about the environment, Paulo explains how negative land-use changes can harm the environment and have a negative impact on humans. There are many valuable benefits nature gives us, described as ‘ecosystem services’, that are being disrupted by unsustainable practices like rapid urbanization and deforestation.
This includes a loss of natural water purification and air quality control.
Persuading private landowners to adopt more sustainable practices is challenging because it takes money from their livelihoods in the short term. Education can be an important tool for convincing them to adopt strategies for better conservation, but oftentimes, it is not enough.
Another strategy governments can use is to pay landowners the difference in money earned through using sustainable practices compared to higher pay-out conventional practices that deplete the land’s resources. Paulo’s interview highlights the fact that intervening in unsustainable practices requires multiple approaches to better conserve the land, protect biodiversity and mitigate climate change.
