{"id":25212,"date":"2025-10-02T12:16:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=25212"},"modified":"2025-10-03T15:14:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:14:28","slug":"protecting-amazons-indigenous-lands-can-improve-human-health-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/02\/protecting-amazons-indigenous-lands-can-improve-human-health-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Amazon\u2019s Indigenous lands can improve human health, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Florencia Sangermano, left, partners with members of an Indigenous community as part of the XPRIZE Rainforest competition in 2024. (Photos courtesy of Team ETH BiodivX)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Geographer contributes to global research examining how rainforest \u2018buffer\u2019 helps curb disease<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Indigenous Territories in the Amazon rainforest can help buffer and protect humans from forest fire-related illnesses and, in many cases, animal- and insect-borne diseases, according to a recent study<\/a> by Clark geographer Florencia Sangermano<\/a> and her colleagues published in the Nature group journal Communications Earth & Environment<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was released just two months before COP30<\/a>, the annual United Nations climate change conference, to be held Nov. 10-21 in Brazil, one of nine countries in the Amazon region. Clark hopes to send representatives from its newly launched School of Climate, Environment, and Society<\/a> to COP in B\u00e9lem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing upon two decades of data on respiratory and infectious diseases in the region, \u201cthe study is the first to evaluate the human health benefits of Indigenous lands throughout the Amazon biome,\u201d the authors say, \u201chighlighting the complexity of these relationships in the face of different contexts of landscape structure, the legal status of Indigenous lands and the trade-offs that exist between different diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indigenous Territories have \u201ccomplex relationships\u201d with the landscape beyond their borders \u2014 the amount of forestland and forest fragmentation that exists in surrounding areas \u2014 which affects whether human disease spreads, according to the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Florencia
Florencia Sangermano attaches speakers to a raft that was to be carried via drone for ecoacoustics research in the Amazon. She was a member of Team ETH BiodivX, which won a bonus prize in the five-year XPRIZE Rainforest competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Covering 4.35 million square miles, the Amazon region is home to 33 million people, 2.7 million of them Indigenous, and tens of millions of plant and wildlife species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA growing body of evidence shows that Indigenous-managed lands are largely forest covered, especially when legally held or titled,\u201d the authors say. \u201cIndigenous Territories \u2026 contribute to curb deforestation and slow biodiversity loss, underscoring the need to recognize and support Indigenous rights globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study highlights that such \u201cpolicies supporting Indigenous land rights \u2026 are not only essential for protecting these populations,\u201d the authors say, \u201cbut can also generate positive outcomes for human health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article has drawn attention from around the world, including in The Guardian<\/em>, India News<\/em>, U.S. News & World Report<\/em>, Inside Climate News<\/em>, Mongabay<\/em>, and other media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParticulate matter emissions due to forest fires, and their related health impacts, transcend national borders,\u201d Sangermano, associate professor in Clark\u2019s Graduate School of Geography<\/a>, told The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. \u201cInternational collaborative frameworks that align forest protection, Indigenous stewardship, and fire mitigation strategies across the Amazon biome are essential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur findings highlight the need for policies supporting Indigenous land rights, which are not only essential for protecting these populations but can also generate positive outcomes for human health.\u201d<\/p>\u2014 study by florencia sangermano and co-authors<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past five decades, the Amazon has lost millions of acres of rainforest due to human activity, including forest fires used to clear the land for agriculture. The fires release noxious fumes containing fine particulate matter, which can lead to lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, asthma, stroke, and other serious respiratory and cardiovascular health problems, according to Sangermano, who was designated a Kavli Frontiers in Science Fellow<\/a> by National Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 2023 study published in Communications Earth & Environment<\/em>, Sangermano and her colleagues examined similar links between deforestation and threats to human health. Based on 10 years of satellite data compiled and analyzed by Sangermano, the scientists analyzed the effect of PM2.5 particulates \u2014 the fine particles \u2014 from forest fires on heart and respiratory diseases and the economic impact of these effects. They found that particulate matter can disperse, affecting people who live up to 310 miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the 2025 study points out that \u201cland-use change stands as the leading driver for emerging zoonotic infectious diseases. Deforestation alters the niche of vectors, hosts, and pathogens, changing their community composition, behaviors, movements, and spatial distribution, and forcing them to live in closer proximity to humans,\u201d the authors say. \u201cDeforestation also leads to fragmentation, altering the configuration of the remaining forest areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sangermano has experience partnering with Indigenous and local people on environmental research in the Amazon. In Brazil, as part of the five-year XPRIZE Rainforest competition, she was a member of the global research team ETH BiodivX that eventually won a $250,000 Bonus Prize<\/a> in 2024. Her expertise in ecoacoustics, geospatial science, and remote sensing helped inform the environmental insights the team derived from data gathered in the Amazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team, she says, was \u201cvery happy to be recognized for the part of the work that we were the most proud of \u2014 working with the local communities and Indigenous communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to her research in the Amazon, Sangermano is studying the connections<\/a> between rainforest loss in Brazil\u2019s Atlantic Forest and rodents\u2019 transmission of infectious diseases to humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHealthy biodiversity systems,\u201d she says, \u201chave healthy animals and, in turn, healthy humans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indigenous Territories in the Amazon rainforest can help buffer and protect humans from diseases, according to a recent study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21535,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-dark-green)","story_headerImg":21535,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[241],"displayed_author":[242],"featured":[495],"topic":[247,521,160,165,162,134],"class_list":["post-25212","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-sustainability","displayed_author-meredith-woodward-king","featured-research","topic-books-and-publications","topic-environment","topic-faculty-research","topic-geography","topic-research","topic-school-of-climate-environment-and-society"],"yoast_head":"\nProtecting Amazon\u2019s Indigenous lands can improve human health, study finds | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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