🌊 Dirty water

Hello! Welcome to the very first issue of the Brazil Climate newsletter, brought to you by The Brazilian Report. Every week, we’ll go into detail on a crucial issue affecting our environment — not just in Brazil but around the world.

This week, deputy editor Letícia Arcoverde has a fascinating and important story about an often overlooked aspect of commercial shipping and its potential to cause environmental destruction.

If you have any questions about this newsletter, or topics you’d like to see covered in future issues, send me an email at [email protected]

A dispute over environmental regulations at Brazil’s largest port

Last year, a group of biologists working in mangroves along São Paulo’s coast were left stumped after noticing dozens of strange trees. They were Sonneratia apetala mangroves, a species native to South Asia — never before recorded in South America.

Much taller than Brazil’s native mangroves and notable for its white flowers, S. apetala has been widely used in China as part of mangrove restoration efforts. However, it has wreaked havoc on native ecosystems, and researchers published a paper warning that the species could have the same effect in Brazil.

But how did these trees, thousands of miles from their natural habitats, reach Brazil? Scientists believe their seeds traveled in the ballast water tanks of one of the countless ships bound for the Port of Santos — the largest in the country, located just two kilometers from where the invasive mangroves were found.

🌳 Brazil Climate