Globalization Lays Siege to Forests and Communities:
Brazil

Take Action to help Vivaldo Barbosa.

"It's from the land that we take our food. It's from the river that we take our food. The fish is going to end [sic]. The companies don't only go for timber. They go after fish,game and everything. When a company leaves an area, you can go there and you won't find anything. You'll find no more game, you'll find no more fish, nor neighbors nearby with food,because they will have to buy everything."
— — Vivaldo Barbosa

Brazil's rainforests are among the most biodiverse in the world, and are at disappearing at alarming rates.

Big leaf mahogany, selling on international markets for more that $180 per cubic foot, is one of the world's most precious woods. Officially recognized as being threatened with extinction, this "green gold" and other illegally cut timber is being heavily exported out of Brazil's largest state, Pará — home to the global environmental hero, Chico Mendes.

Exporters, loggers, cattle ranchers, land speculators, and others have now moved in to Pará and are floating illegally harvested timber in a flood of contraband through the Porto de Moz area of Pará. These individuals are spreading violence, corruption and repression in their wake. As a result, the human and civil rights of the people living in Pará are severely threatened.

Recent satellite data indicates that deforestation appears to be increasing dramactically in areas of the Amazon that are on indiginous lands.

Vivaldo Barbosa and his family have had their home destroyed twice for resisting efforts from outsiders trying steal their land to expand logging. According to a 2003 Greenpeace report, the Barbosa family's trouble began in 1999, when a "farmer" arrived claiming that Barbosa and his family had squatted on his land and destroyed his assets.

According to a government report on land tenure, falsifying land claims is a standard ploy by loggers and speculators attempting to gain control of forest areas. Barbosa, and other residents who have lived in the area for longer periods of time, attest that nothing was situated on the land prior to Barbosa's arrival. None of Barbosa's neighbors are aware of any other owners.

Not long after the first confrontation, men armed with guns arrived and destroyed Barbosa's house, along with all of his family's possessions. While the house burned, three men stood watch with guns cradled in their arms. Despite this brazen act, the local court in Porto de Moz took no action.

The United States is the world’s largest importer and consumer of timber and wood products.

Along with seven other families, Barbosa has lived and worked cooperatively in a tiny forest community in Porto de Moz since 1982. With the coming of the loggers and other speculators, the community now faces terrifying struggles and lacks government help. As Barbosa has discovered, there is little law enforcement to be found in the Porto de Moz area. The nearest real help, the highly respected federal police, are nearly 180 miles away.

But Barbosa, his neighbors and other residents of the Porto de Moz area are determined to stay, risking their livelihood and even their lives to protect the community and the forest they rely on. Seeking a solution, community groups in the Porto de Moz area came together in 1999 and formulated a request for designation of a new "extractive reserve"* to be called Verde Pará Sempre (Green Forever).

Much of Pará has already been exploited by loggers, cattle ranchers and land speculators.

Communities in nearby areas also came together and proposed a contiguous second reserve to the west of Porto de Moz. In 2000, these requests were submitted to the Brazilian federal and state governments. The country's environmental agency, IBAMA, responded to the requests with promises to conduct studies into the viability of the Verde Pará Sempre reserve. Yet, Pará's state and local government officials have voiced strong opposition to the creation of these reserves, as impediments to economic development.

In 2003, area residents grew tired of waiting for the government to act. Following the example of Pará's most famous activist, Chico Mendes, 600 area residents protested the continuing destruction of the forests and asked for the creation of the Verde Pará Sempre reserve. Metal barges loaded with wood belonging to the Grupo Campos — a company connected by family to Porto de Moz's mayor — were stopped and seized.

Grupo Campos was later fined by IBAMA agents. Angered by the activists' action, loggers made death threats against community leaders and others who participated in the blockade. These threats were taken very seriously — Chico Mendes was assassinated on his front porch.

The United States is responsible for over 60% of global mahogany imports, mostly from Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Environmental investigators have recently demonstrated the extent and workings of the illegal mahogany trade by following the supply chain from Brazilian forests to U.S. and European ports.

In recent years, American retailers have been discovered selling mahogany products originating from illegal sources, including Pará. When asked, these companies claimed they only purchase wood from sustainably-managed forests. This is often not true.

In 2002, Greenpeace activists boarded a ship off the Florida coast that was transporting mahogany illegally exported from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Their objective was to hang a banner from the ship that read: "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging." The U.S. authorities intervened and arrested the Greenpeace activists. After successfully prosecuting the activists, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration decided to prosecute the entire Greenpeace organization under an obscure 1872 piracy statute.

At the same time, the Bush administration has done nothing to address the illegal shipment of mahogany to U.S. ports. The Sierra Club filed a motion to appear as a friend of the court in opposition to the Bush administration's frivolous and politically motivated criminal prosecution of Greenpeace. However, in May 2004, the U.S. District Court of Miami threw out the charges against Greenpeace without even hearing from the defense.

In recent years, the Brazilian government has passed and attempted to implement laws and restrictions to protect rainforests. In 2001, a seven-year ban on the export of mahogany was extended to domestic sales. Currently, the government is putting in place a high-tech system for tracking and verifying the source of all timber. During the last two years, the government has also hired 2,500 new IBAMA field staff to address the problem.

Unfortunately, it has proved almost impossible for the Brazilian government to combat the level of corruption that occurs when the amount of money in timber trading is so great. Despite the best efforts and intentions of the new government, murder, violence, land invasions, illegal occupancy of public land, and even slavery are commonplace in Pará. The request to establish land reserves by Vivaldo Barbosa and his Porto de Moz neighbors remains mired in the bureaucracy of the Brazilian government.

These forest defenders have worked under extremely dangerous conditions to mobilize their community, forge alliances with other groups and place pressure on the government. With the support of concerned individuals around the world, they have played a crucial role in preserving the Amazon's biodiversity. They need continuing international help to preserve the forests and their traditional way of life.

* Extractive reserves are areas protected by law for conservation and the sustainable management of natural resources by the traditional communities inhabiting them. This model was developed in the 1980s by forest dwellers under the leadership of Chico Mendes and the National Council of Rubber Tappers. It was adopted by the Brazilian federal government in 1990.