Carmem Cunha

Brazilian environmental scientist leading Amazon rainforest conservation through community partnerships

Carmem Cunha (b. 1976) is an Amazonian biologist whose innovative conservation strategies have protected 1.2 million hectares of rainforest. As director of Instituto Verde Viva, she pioneered the 'Forest Guardians' program training indigenous communities to monitor illegal logging via satellite drones. Her 2008 creation of the Amazon Carbon Credit Network provides economic incentives for sustainable land use.

Cunha's 2020 study in Nature Sustainability demonstrated how agroforestry practices can triple crop yields while preserving biodiversity. She developed the first mobile app Guardião da Floresta (2015) used by 10,000+ local farmers.

Her collaboration with the Brazilian government established the Amazon Environmental Police Academy in 2018. Cunha's 2021 documentary "The Forest Within" won an Emmy for Environmental Journalism. She was named UNEP's 2022 Global Environment Hero for her community-based conservation model.