Brazilian fabella going green:I Why a Brazilian favela facing eviction decided to go green

23 August 2025 BBC UK Lottie Watters I had no idea it would snowball this far.': Why a Brazilian favela facing eviction decided to go green Th e garden in Vila Nova Esperança favela (Credit: Lottie Watters ) In Brazil's crowded favelas, green space is scarce, but this São Paulo community is demonstrating how more sustainable favelas can benefit their residents. "You have to remove the seeds before they flower." Maria de Lourdes Andrade Silva is showing me how she picks the buds off a flowering basil plant as she tends to a vibrant community garden in a favela in São Paulo, Brazil – South America's largest city. "If you leave it to flower, it'll use up all its energy and it will die," she says. When I visited this 0.5-hectare (1.2-acre) garden in Vila Nova Esperança favela in 2022, it was teeming with herbs, plants, vegetables, and life. Today, it's been Silva's labour of love for more than a decade. Before Silva's eff...