As Deforestation Rates Climb, so do the Number of Murders of Amazon Activists.
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Credit : Rachel Kramer / NWF – Conflicts over Land and Deforestation in the Amazon has come to a Boiling Point.
Only 10 days after Brazil’s Vice President, Michel Temer, announced the creation of a working group on violence in the Amazon, an elite task force of 60 police officers have been sent out to protect environmental activists in the Amazon. What has prompted this sudden concern for the safety of Amazon activists ? A series of murders which have happened across Brazil in the past few weeks. While the murder of Amazon activists in Brazil is far from uncommon, it’s important to note that the government is showing a stronger response than ever before.
Murders in the Amazon
Somewhere between the night of May 23rd and the morning of May 24th, Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espirito Santo, were killed in an ambush near their home in the Brazilian state of Pará. According to reports, they were stopped in their vehicle by unknown gunmen, taken out and shot. The circumstances surrounding their murder, including the fact that one of da Silva’s ears was chopped off, have led the prosecutor to suggest that this is the work of hired hitmen.
The couple had been working for the Amazon-focused non-governmental group CNS, ( National Council of Rubber Tappers in Brazil which advocates for social, economic, and social rights for Amazonian peoples), and was set up by legendary environmental activist Chico Mendes who himself was killed by landowners in the Amazon in 1988.
Da Silva was a well-known environmentalist and the recipient of international recognition for the positive work he has done towards taking a stand against rising rates of deforestation in the Amazon. Along with the many awards, however, came many death threats.
According to the CNS, the couple had been receiving death threats since 2008 in response to their work! Justs six months ealier, da Silva had even predicted his own murder :
” I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment … because I denounce the loggers and charcoal producers, and that is why they think I cannot exist. “
[People] ask me, ‘are you afraid?’ Yes, I’m a human being, of course I am afraid. But my fear does not silence me. As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest”
His name was also one of many on a list released in 2008, which listed 260 people in Brazil who were under threat of being murdered because they in some way had raised their voices in protest against ongoing deforestation in the Amazon, led by (the majority of the time) loggers, cattle ranchers, miners, and farmers.
THEN, on the morning of May 27th, Adelino “Dinho” Ramos, president of the Movimento Camponeses Corumbiara e da Associação dos Camponeses do Amazonas, an association for small farmers, was gunned down in front of his family in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Brazil’s Special Secretariat for Human Rights has stated it is still unclear who killed Ramos, but they have acknowledged that he had continually been the subject of numerous death threats from loggers for his work.
So three prominent environmentalists, who have been very vocal about the need to protect the Amazon, are mysteriously murdered within a week of the controversial vote on the Brazilian Forest Code in the Brazilian House of Representatives. Can we draw any conclusions from this?
José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, a lawyer at the Catholic social action organization, Land Pastoral Commission – CPT, seems to think we can. He says that the upcoming changes in the Forest Code, ( aka Código Florestal) and the idea of giving amnesty for cases of illegal deforestation is a large source of tension in the country.
“It may not be the main reason, but this moment of legislative ambiguity and pressure by landowners creates tension and generates insecurity,” stated Afonso, adding that the proposed alterations in the Forest Code contribute to “an atmosphere of violence… As landowners push hard for more space and the liberty to expand their activities into the Amazon region these are tense times.”
We’ll let you draw your own conclusions. Whoever is responsible for the murders aside, Mr. Afonso is right about these proposed changes in the Forest Code causing tensions across Brazil. Additionally, in the past two months, according to figures from the Brazilian government, deforestation in the Amazon has spiked — this being an increase of OVER 500% when compared to last year’s numbers. Also, keep in mind that, because of clouds and rain, which prevented satellite monitoring, the state of Para that boasted the highest rates of forest loss in 2010 was, for the most part, not included in these numbers, so unfortunately the rates of deforestation may be even higher than we think.
If these changes to the Forest Code are passed, they will undermine forest protections and threaten tens of millions of acres of natural habitat and wildlife in the Amazon, and other natural habitats across Brazil. These ongoing assasinations of prominent environmental activists, who dare to make their voice heard may possibly scare other groups from speaking out against these proposed changes to the Forest Code, out of fear for their lives.
But it currently looks as if the debate is still very much alive in Brazil, so check back on Forest Justice for the latest updates!
