Gabriel Santos

What makes Gabriel Santos a Global Shaker?

Gabriel Santos is a 25-year-old lawyer from Brazil who has over 4.5 million signatures on his Change.org petition asking officials to investigate the real cause of the Amazon rainforest fires.

His petition appears on every list you can find if you search “what can I do to help the Amazon Rainforest” since news spread of 2019’s devastating fires.

In his heartfelt petition statement he said:

I am here because we need to ask all levels of Government in Brazil to mobilize and help us put an end to the burning of the Amazon rainforest! 

We are asking the authorities to set up an inquiry to investigate what is leading to the increase in fires in this region and hold the culprits to account.

According to the Brazilian Space Agency, this year the number of Amazon forest fires increased 84% compared to the same period of 2018. And I live this daily, I have never seen so many fires in such a short time. There are 71,000 new fire points.

More than half of the fires are in the Amazon, which is not only killing biodiversity and ecosystems, but also damaging the health of millions, especially the elderly and children who cannot breathe due to smoke.

Last Monday afternoon, the population of São Paulo was surprised to see the city going dark at 3pm from the heavy smoke billowing from the fires in the North. And that made us understand one thing: it doesn’t matter if we’re northerners or southerners. Whether you are living on the banks of the river or an executive working in the city. The dismantling of environmental policies will affect all of us.

An inquiry can help make sure this doesn’t happen again. Please help by signing.

Santos is deeply involved in local politics. In 2018 he was selected as one of his region’s ‘leaders’ by RenovaBR, an education programme aiming to train new political leaders and improve civic engagement in Brazil.

He then stood as a candidate for Acre’s state deputy in 2018, having previously challenged for deputy mayor of his hometown, Rio Branco, in 2016.

Last updated: September 5, 2019

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