Marcela Maria Martins

I’m a journalist focused in climate and environmental reporting. With ten years of experience as a reporter and TV presenter, I’ve published stories across various media outlets in Brazil and internationally. I also hold a postgraduate degree in Science Communication.

Pulitzer Center •

From the Andean Hearth to the Global Market: Latin America and Its New Carbon Sales Amid Uncertainty

Latin America is positioning itself as a supplier of carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, but experts warn the region could “oversell” low-cost mitigation today and face higher domestic costs later to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), climate commitments made by countries.
The story opens with the Peru–Switzerland deal (improved cookstoves) as the world’s first bilateral agreement under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, then contrasts it with Article 6.4—a...
EL ESPECTADOR •

COP30 cierra con pocos avances y una inédita disputa entre Colombia y Brasil por el petróleo

La que sería la “COP de la verdad” y “COP de la Adaptación”, cerró con durísimos cuestionamientos en materia de fósiles y de adaptación.

Y es que, pese a los intentos y presiones del presidente Lula da Silva para que la COP30 adoptara una “hoja de ruta” para salir de los combustibles fósiles -como fue acordado en la COP28 hace dos años-, la cita en Belém do Pará terminó sin mención alguna a los principales responsables de la crisis climática en sus documentos oficiales.

(Lea Primera conferenci...
Climate Tracker •

Brasil necesita frenar la deforestación para cumplir su compromiso climático

La especialista destaca que, además de las medidas de fiscalización y control, lo que realmente determinará el éxito del Plan Clima serán aquellas políticas que fomenten una economía que se beneficie directamente de la conservación de los bosques.“Porque así se frena la deforestación, no por la vía del castigo. Y esto aún no se ha planteado. Seguimos preguntándonos, ¿dónde está el plan nacional de bioeconomía? Debería haberse publicado en 2004 y aún no ha sucedido. ¿Dónde está la reglamentación...
Climate Tracker •

300 mil millones de dólares para 2035: la meta financiera de la COP29 queda corta para enfrentar la crisis climática - Climate Tracker

Los primeros aplausos de una conferencia pasada de horas y de tensiones se dio con la aprobación, tras casi una década de negociaciones, de las guías sobre las cuales funcionarán los mercados bilaterales de carbono (Artículo 6.2) y mercados globales regulados (Artículo 6.4) bajo las reglas de la Convención de Cambio Climático.A diferencia del actual mercado voluntario que es gestionado por organizaciones privadas como Verra o Gold Standard, este nuevo mercado regulado se guiará bajo normas cient...
Climate Tracker •

Na Amazônia, açaí enfrenta perdas com as mudanças climáticas

O estudo “Climate change may affect the future of extractivism in the Brazilian Amazon” (“Mudanças climáticas podem afetar o futuro do extrativismo na Amazônia brasileira”, em tradução livre), publicado em 2021, mostra que até 2050 as mudanças climáticas, em associação com outros problemas (como desmatamento) podem afetar a distribuição geográfica de 18 espécies de palmeiras e árvores usadas pelas populações na Amazônia. A pesquisa foi feita em reservas extrativistas (resex), modelo de unidade d...
One Earth •

Brazilian women cook up a new recipe for lowering emissions | One Earth

In the kitchens of women from the community of Feijão e Posse, located in Brazil’s arid Northeastern region, a stove very different from the rest almost goes unnoticed. It looks similar to the traditional woodfire stove used in many of the country’s rural areas, but its footprint is cleaner. Maria José cooks for her family and bakes sweets for sale using an agroecological stove. First thing in the morning, she lights the fire with a small amount of organic material, such as sticks, corn on the c...

Can Brazil's Participatory Budgeting Project Rebuild Trust?

BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL – Alexandre Sampaio, a community organizer and ecology expert living in São Paulo, Brazil, was browsing his computer earlier this year when he came across an invitation to submit a proposal in a new project where citizens would allocate the federal government’s money. Curious, he clicked the link and submitted a proposal to increase the number of protected biomes in the country’s most fragile ecosystems, including the Cerrado.Alexandre was one of nearly eight thousand peop...
One Earth •

How a booklet transformed women’s agroecological production in Brazil | One Earth

Why is a simple booklet, with four columns and space for notes, so special to Brazilian women family farmers? When asked about the importance of the agroecological booklet, Marcilene Gonçalves, a farmer who lives in the city of Simonesia, says that it changed her life. It’s a common response among farmers who use the methodology developed by the Center for Alternative Technologies of Zona da Mata (CTA), a region in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In the booklet, farmers, mostly women, track t...
One Earth •

Fire prevents fire, saving Brazil's savannah from destruction | One Earth

In 2001, Brazil’s government started a zero-fire policy. Setting fire in conservation areas would be entirely forbidden. The elders at the Xerente Indigenous community, located in the northeastern state of Tocantins, warned that it wouldn’t work. “The old people told us, You are wrong. That fire is a good fire. It doesn't go into the woods, it doesn't burn the tops of the trees, it doesn't kill the animals,” said Pedro Paulo Xerente, an Indigenous Xerente and coordinator of the local fire brigad...
One Earth •

Technology and Indigenous knowledge combine to protect the Amazon | One Earth

Like his ancestors did thousands of years ago, Juvêncio Baniwa observes the Brazilian Amazon forests in the Rio Negro basin daily. Rio Negro is the seventh largest river in the world and home to a plethora of biodiversity. Baniwa ― Juvêncio’s Indigenous group as well as his surname ― starts his day by carefully observing the size of the fruits, the appearance of the tree trunks, and the water level. He also takes note of any animals. The stark difference from what his ancestors did centuries ago...