Help Joäo with project Scorched Earth

**Hi friends this campaign is created on behalf of my colleague and dear friend João Velozo, a Brazilian photojournalist who has dedicated his career on reporting on the environment and human rights. Due to his geographical location I am helping raise the funds that will then be sent to João. Thank you everyone!

-Diana**

Hi! My Name is João Velozo, and I'm a photo and Video journalist based in The Brazilian northeastern State of Pernambuco. You Can access my portfolio at www.joaovelozo.com

My professional life has been dedicated to wildlife conservation and reporting on human rights violations in South America.

I'm coming to Gofundme to ask for your help to bring a big project to life.

The Amazon is burning again. Forest fires in Brazil have skyrocketed after Bolsonaro came to power in Brazil. Since 2019 the human-caused fires in the Amazon region are rising without control, reaching 47 thousand points of fire in the State of Mato Grosso in 2020, a 250% rise compared to the previous year.

Tragically, wildlife is the most affected population of a hectic fire season, which typically begins in late June.

Many small animals can't move faster than approaching fire. At the same time, the big predators face the hardship of finding food since the fire kills and burns all the small animals. Sadly, many animals may be burned and survive in critical condition for some days before dying. This also puts the forest fires as one of the main threats to the biodiversity of the Amazon Region.

Each year, many different groups merge to the region to save as many lives as possible. To monitor and rescue wildlife in a collective effort that brings together the State's Fire Department, scientists, NGOs, and volunteers.

To cover this issue, I'm planning on traveling to Mato Grosso to document the efforts to save the animal life affected by the fires, bringing all the sides involved in this effort.

All will be documented in a photographic essay and a short video documentary called "Scorched Earth."

This crowdfunding will be used to fund the logistics cost. The money will be used exclusively for paying for accommodations, air travel, food, and local transportation during the 35 days of the project. The state of Mato-Grosso has an area equivalent to Venezuela, which means all the moving inside the state will comprise long-distance travel, in some cases with a paid local driver.

Let's do it together!

-João