This afternoon, teachers and students from more than 25 schools across the UK and beyond convened for GlosGeog‘s second virtual speaker session of this academic year. We were very fortunate to secure Dr Harry West, Senior Lecturer and Programme leader for Geography and Environmental Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship at the University of the West of England, for an hour or so to enlighten us about the Amazon (‘Tipping the Amazon – current and future challenges facing the Amazon rainforest‘). Through my work with Step into the Amazon, I have been able to have regular contact with members of the Aldeia-Tururukari-uka tribe of the Kambeba indigenous community in the heart of the Amazon and learnt much about their culture, beliefs, values and way of life in the process. I was really interested to hear what Harry had to say this afternoon too, sharing some of the latest scientific research findings and messages conveyed in the media.
After the formal welcome, introductions and usual housekeeping, I handed over to Harry. He began by referring to COP30, which was recently held in the city of Belem in Brazil, and the positive and negative outcomes. Harry also touched upon the debates prior to the event; clearing the rainforest to build roads to increase accessibility and the isolation of indigenous communities in the process, the insufficient accommodation and services for the 50 000 global visitors and the carbon footprint of individuals travelling to Belem. He also defined ‘tipping points‘, shared a brilliant analogy related to canoeing and projected a world map that showed where tipping becomes likely with different degrees of global warming.
There were three parts to Harry’s talk. The first focused on the importance of the Amazon rainforest. Here, Harry discussed biodiversity, climate regulation, the water cycle, cultural significance and economic value. He attempted to show a short movie clip as well (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029bns/the-americas-series-1-4-the-amazon), although this proved to be a little ambitious for Zoom, causing it to buffer for a few seconds, unfortunately. One for teachers to view with students in a future lesson, perhaps?
The second section took the theme of ‘The Amazon dieback tipping point‘. Harry explained what Amazon dieback implied and introduced us to the term ‘savannisation‘. He paused and posed the following question to the audience, which resulted in many valuable contributions being added to the chat feed.
This tipping point is driven by a combination of factors, which Harry addressed in turn, namely deforestation, climate change and forest degradation. Due to his interest and expertise in GIS and spatial analysis, there were plenty of visual representations on Harry’s slides, which engaged and challenged the audience. Harry covered the consequences of crossing the tipping point, such as loss of biodiversity, climate feedbacks, altered hydrological cycle and impact on indigenous communities. It was quite shocking to see how the Amazon might look after the ‘tipping point’.
The third part explored ‘How close is the Amazon tipping point?‘. Harry considered potential thresholds in terms of deforestation, temperature and rainfall and Amazon tipping, pausing once again to encourage a degree of reflection amongst the audience and invite them to insert their thoughts into the chat feed.
Afterwards, he discussed positive feedback, government deforestation policies and when the Amazon might tip at this point.
His concluding slide shared details about geography courses on offer at the University of the West of England (UWE) and forthcoming open days via a series of QR codes. Details can also be found on Instagram (@environmentgeoguwe). Did you know that the University of the West of England (UWE) is ranked the fifth university in the UK for geography according to The Guardian University Guide 2026?
Towards the end of the session, attendees could add any questions to the chat feed that they wished Harry to respond to. There were several, suggesting that his talk had stimulated deeper thinking.
Some of their questions can be viewed below:
Are the COPs worth the effort?
What is the date of the Amazon biome measure you talked about re: rainforest reduction percentages out of interest?
Their ‘concluding comments‘ can be read below:
Excellent, up-to date information and phrases (I’d never heard of ‘A wicked problem’)
A valuable insight into the challenges rainforests are experiencing.
Informative; relevant; interesting; thought-provoking.
Clear. Well-sourced. Quantitative. Expert. Illuminating.
Very helpful for A level water and carbon topic.
Fantastic synoptic information.
Excellent lecture, full of current data and new ideas.
Harry is an amazon-g guy!
Informative; visual; up-to-date; scientific; fact-filled.
Very informative – some new vocabulary to explain changes (savannization).
Fantastic delivery; students benefitted from the session; our HOD made several pages of notes!
Relevant and fundamental topics underpinning Geography and Environmental Science.
Relevant; accessible; helpful.
Thank you! Very interesting.
Thank you for your time today, fantastic session.
Thank you very much for such an interesting talk.
Thank you, great session.
Thank you – very informative.
Thank you very much – excellent information and lecture.
Fantastic talk.
Thank you so much – this was timed perfectly for our Year 12s. Much appreciated.
Thank you very much, great lecture!
Thank you for today’s seminar- our Year 10s really engaged in the topics. If you have any more coming up, please could we be considered?
Thank you SO MUCH for the excellent lecture today. It was pitched just right for where we are at with our teaching at the moment, and for the A-Level specification – perfect amount of additional detail to make it stretching, plus good for the students to experience more of a university-style lecture. Really worthwhile attending, thank you again!
Both my Geography and Environmental Science students said they found it really useful and I certainly did! Many thanks again for a great lecture @Harry.West@uwe.ac.uk
Thank you for the opportunities you have provided us this term.
If you found this speaker session enjoyable, then why not try and zoom into the next one? Information will be distributed and posted on social media feeds early in the New Year.
In the interim, enjoy the remainder of Term 2 and all its festivities and good luck to all those with mock exams looming!