Meet Aline: Full circle back to the RDS Uatumã Communities

Hello there, and happy new year! My name is Aline Radaelli and I am the new outreach person for ATTO, working with Uatumã’s communities, and continuing the great job done by Dr. Cybelli. It is a pleasure to meet you – even though virtually.

Please, let me quickly introduce myself. I hold my Master’s (from the Amazonas Federal University) and my PhD (from the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University) in Sociology. My research focuses on environmental sociology. For my MSc, I have studied illegal gold mining and environmental conflicts on indigenous territory at the Upper Solimões River, nearby the triple border of Brazil, Columbia and Peru. During my PhD, I have studied the relationship between infrastructures (i.e. roads, dams and agribusiness) and climate change and its effects on indigenous and riverine People from the Madeira River, south of Amazonas state and part of so-called “deforestation arc”.

Aline on her way to ATTO. © Aline Radaelli

Despite being born in a small town in São Paulo state, in my heart I belong to Manaus, having lived here since 2013. Funny enough, I came to Manaus in 2013 to work with communities in the RDS Uatumã! Isn’t it an amazing circle of life? The picture of this wonderful sunset at the Uatumã River is from that time. For me, it is exciting and a great pleasure to work again with Uatumã’s communities and most of all to be part of this great group of ATTO scientists!

Beyond the main duty of outreach and ATTO at those schools, I will work to strengthen the institutional relations between ATTO, the RDS communities and other actors.

Recently, I did go to ATTO camp for the first time to introduce myself to the staff. I had the opportunity to get to know all the labs and climb the tower (thanks Hella and Yago!), just to the first platform at 54 meters. It was amazing to see all that great scientific infrastructure and, of course, the incredible view of the forest from that height! Also, it was clear that I need to do more leg exercises to be able to reach the top of the tower 😅.

Sunset above the Uatumã River during Aline's first time there in 2013. © Aline Radaelli