When José Rodrigues do Santos first saw the enormous canyons in Gilbués, in Brazil’s Piauí state, he didn’t imagine that he would spend the rest of his life there. He had walked some 20 kilometers (12 miles) across a red sea of desertified land from the place where he was born to arrive in the heart of Gilbués with his family. The red landscape here is like something out of a science-fiction film. That’s what makes the occasional pocket of green peeping through the raw earth such a surprise. “The land needs to be cared for, just like we do. It’s a living thing too,” says Santos, better known as Zé Capemba in these parts. He tells of the difficulties involved in working the dry soil, including having to carry water every day. But things are much better today than they were a few years ago, he says. “Our well and the technology improved our life a lot.” Gilbués is located in one of the four main geographical zones currently undergoing desertification according to the Brazilian government. All which are located in the semiarid northeast of the country, an 805-square-kilometer expanse (311-square-mile) expanse of degraded Caatinga dry forest straddling 14 municipalities in Piauí and home to some 149,000 people. Family farmer José Rodrigues do Santos, also known as Zé Capemba, outside his home in Gilbués, Piauí state. Image by Rafael Martins for Mongabay. The Gameleiro, a creek, runs through Zé Capemba’s land. Its course has been altered by the large…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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