Rio de Janeiro, 22–27 July 2025

Tuesday night was perfect, neither too warm nor cold, with a light breeze. People were excited to see each other again and to make new acquaintances. Everyone talked and hugged. The UFRJazz Ensemble was playing Brazilian popular music and, in the background, lay the legendary Guanabara Bay. We were mingling in a lateral gallery of the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow), a white futuristic building that houses a scientific display of the cosmos, our planet and—as the museum’s name suggests—the future. Attendees had had the opportunity to visit the exhibits in the afternoon, before attending the opening ceremony of the 12th Symposium of the Latin American and Caribbean Society for Environmental History, SOLCHA.

Museu do Amanhã, designed by Santiago Calatrava, on 22 July 2025. Photo: Jonatan Palmblad

Besides the presidents of SOLCHA and ICEHO, the ceremony included the heads or representatives from the museum and the local organizing institutions: Rio’s Federal University (UFRJ), which is an example of Brazil’s impressive public university system; Rio’s Catholic University (PUC-Rio), a highly recognized private university; the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), an institution that is part of the Ministry of Health, which trains graduate students and is probably the most important research center on public health in Latin America; and Rio’s Botanical Garden, a jewel of this magnificent city. We heard Nísia Trinidade Lima, a sociologist and former chairwoman of Fiocruz and Minister of Health, talk about the current relations between health, environmental justice, and climate change.

As the group of organizing institutions suggests, Rio is a powerhouse for environmental history. José Augusto Pádua and Lise Sedrez have led the way in UFRJ, Rogério Ribeiro de Oliveira and Alexandro Solórzano have played that role in the Catholic University, and Dominichi Miranda de Sá is among the researchers of FioCruz, just as Alda Heizer stands out in the research unit of the Botanical Garden. With the help of other scholars from these and other Brazilian institutions, and a scientific committee of Latin Americans and Latinamericanists, a superb team was formed that brought us to Rio.

Four-hundred and sixteen scholars registered for the symposium, 53 % of them were professors and scholars who have completed their PhDs, and 151 were students; the average age was 43. The addresses confirm that Brazilians were numerous, almost half of those present, with cariocas—that is, people from Rio—comprising almost 20 % of all those registered. Yet, people came from all over that huge country, including the South, the Northeast, and Amazonia. Of those of us who visited from abroad, a large number hailed from northern lands: 24 % from the US, 20 % from Mexico, and 3 % from Canada. Those with US addresses include quite a few Latin American professors and students, even though some abstained from travelling because of current restrictions. Colombians and Argentinians trailed behind with 9 % and 7 % respectively. Other Latin Americans (from Chile, Uruguay, and Ecuador, but also from Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru, and Puerto Rico) represented an additional 13 %. The European contingent turned out to be fairly large and varied: they were a solid 19% of non-Brazilians, with the largest number coming from Spain (a country that has been an integral part of SOLCHA from its inception). Others hailed from Germany and Switzerland, and a few from the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.

The symposium took place at the beautiful Palácio Universitáio of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

SOLCHA’s 12th symposium was probably the most international we have had so far. The large participation of non-Latin Americans reflects the strength that the association has achieved after two decades in existence. And, of course, Rio acted as a magnet. Yet, that of those not living in Brazil, 46 % live in North America (which, for us Latin Americans, does not include Mexico) and Europe, says much about global inequalities. Not only do these regions attract some of the most privileged Latin American students, some of which manage to stay after graduating, but in these places there is more funding for academic travel than there is in Latin America. Trips within this region are expensive: distances are long and air travel is a must. SOLCHA does not have institutional funds, but it does offer some partial scholarships for students with donations from its members.

However, SOLCHA enjoys the advantage over the European and Asian societies of having something close to a lingua franca. Everyone there speaks Spanish or Portuguese; Brazilians understand Spanish better than Spanish-speakers understand Portuguese. Portuguese is mesmerizing, talking sounds like singing, but that enthralling accent can be difficult to follow. So, Brazilians tend to speak Portuñol to make themselves understood, and most Spanish-speakers become lazy and let Brazilians do the hard work of communication. These are the official languages used for presentations. There have always been a few foreigners who feel more at ease speaking in English, but this time it was more than a few, with even some Latin Americans, exhibiting their English skills as a kind gesture for those who otherwise would not be able to follow.

The organizers defined 22 themes for the symposium. The three with the higher number of submissions were rivers and water; animals, plants, and forests; and landscape transformations, followed by political ecology and environmental conflicts; cities; and science, medicine, and health. Others—such as the Anthropocene, local knowledges, energy and mining, historiography, imaginaries, and social metabolism—were also quite popular.

The symposium had plenary sessions in each of its five days, including the one of the opening night, mentioned above. Two had various participants and relevant topics, entitled “Indigenous Voices in Latin American History” and “The Historical Crossroads of the Climate Crisis.” The first one included indigenous scholars from Chile, Ecuador, and the Brazilian Amazon, while the second had scholars from Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil. On the fourth night, we heard professor John McNeill talk about Latin American environmental history in global perspective.

On the final day, SOLCHA and ICEHO teamed up to organize a round table on the current state and challenges of environmental history in various parts of the world. David Soto Fernández spoke for Europe and Nancy Jacobs, past president of the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH), spoke for the US. We had the great novelty of having, for the very first time, a Chinese scholar, professor Bao Mahong, speaking on behalf of Asia. After the plenary, Stefania Gallini handed out monographs of the Weyerhausser Environmental Books of Washington University Press, donated by its editor, Paul Sutter, plus a few other titles donated by John Soluri and Emily Wakild, to those young presenters who best placed their case study in global context, or presented on a global theme. Stefania chaired a committee created for this purpose composed of Adi Lazos (Mexico), Leida Fernández Prieto (Cuba-Spain), Nicolás Cuvi (Ecuador), and Stuart McCook (Canada).

On Sunday, after the symposium ended, there were several fieldtrips offered, which took advantage of the extraordinary setting of Rio de Janeiro. One of the most popular ones toured the Guanabara Bay, under the guidance of Lise Sedrez, the foremost expert on the environmental history of the bay. Others headed to Praia de Grumari, while still others preferred to visit the forest in the mountains that circle the city. That was my case, I joined the group, guided by Alexandro Solórzano, that walked the Trilha da Cachoerira dos Primatas, within the Tijuca National Forest. We saw firsthand the acclimatized jackfruit trees, with their large fruits, which tell the story of the people who used the forests, largely to produce charcoal, and enriched it. Others still visited the gigantic Botanical Garden.

We parted happily. Lise Sedrez and José Augusto Pádua took the presidency from Pedro Urquijo, who organized the previous symposium in Morelia, Mexico. I was particularly satisfied to see a robust and diverse SOLCHA, which has not lost that mixture of seriousness and informality that has characterized it since the beginnings. This warm and generous community is growing. Its meetings change people’s lives by connecting them to colleagues with whom to share their work, and who often become livelong friends.

Take note, the next meeting will take place in Mendoza, Argentina, in two years’ time, under the leadership of Facundo Rojas. Everyone is invited.

Alive and Kicking: Solcha's 12th Symposium

Rio de Janeiro, 22–27 July 2025