These are pieces
of the mosaic created by the small portion of the rainforest that I experienced
during a trip to the northeastern Amazon region in 1995: quiet, a depth of
absent sound and the awakening of the soul's ears to the methodic hum of the
collective life within the vastness; the persistent, gentle buzz of teeming
existence, untainted by mechanical sounds, human-made objects or engines.
I remember listening
to the unceasing chorus of millions of frogs at night, sleeping in a hammock,
awakening to the purity of the forests, traveling in canoes and small boats
on the water highways, witnessing the simple ingenious practicality of the
people who live in the heart of nature. Here, one can taste freedom from the
enslavement of modern industry and its metallic disharmony.
The devastation
of the rain forests has long been a topic of debate, discussion and policy
making, but the recently publicized threat posed by the harvesting of mahogany
trees in South American rainforests has expanded awareness of the problem
of unmitigated greed and its consequences.
Greenpeace, an organization
that advocates non-violent protest against the economically motivated destruction
of the world's natural resources, has uncovered the exploitation of timber
in the Amazon. The group has compiled evidence of the prevalence of illegal
logging, rampant corruption and bribery, as well as a slavery system that
has been operating for years in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pará.
Despite the crimes perpetrated by the landowners and companies seeking to
exploit the Amazon's resources, workers in the Northeast joined in protests
against Greenpeace.
"Loggers from the
Transamazônica region have blocked a highway to demand the expulsion
of Greenpeace activists from Amazônia. They have accused the activists
of threatening the economic development of the region by supporting the creation
of the `Forever Green' extractive reserve. The reserve will have an area of
1.3 million hectares, equivalent to 84 percent of the territory of Porto de
Moz. Police officers were forced to intervene in a dispute between the loggers
and representatives of social movements which support the creation of a reserve.
The loggers have called the Greenpeace activists `terrorists and agitators'".
Greenpeace representatives
summarized the events that preceded the confrontation that received worldwide
attention. "The protest and threats were aimed not only against Greenpeace,
which has been exposing illegal logging in the region, but against the Brazilian
environmental agency's attempt to enforce the laws of Brazil as well. In an
action a few days ago, our activists discovered a barge full of illegal logs
in a remote riverside harbour. Activists painted `Crime' on 6,000 cubic meters
of logs, and marked the area with yellow tape as a `Forest Crime' scene.
"Inspectors from
Ibama, the Brazilian environmental agency, are currently active in the region.
Inspectors working along the Transamazonian highway were trapped in their
hotel last week when they were surrounded by 300 armed loggers. Loggers were
provoked to protest by a local radio station, saying they were `cowards' if
they didn't chase Greenpeace out. The radio station is owned by the mayor
of this small town, who also controls the largest logging operation in the
world, and who offered free fuel and T-shirts to those who joined…. It
was reported that alcohol had also been distributed to the protestors"
According to these reports
posted at http://webgreenpeace.org,
landowners and companies intent on exploiting Brazil's forests
instigated the protests because of the threat posed by Greenpeace's
research of communities that are affected by the logging industry.
Residents in the rainforest region also provided information
to conservation activists because of their concern that their
lands were in danger of being decimated or taken over by the
tree harvesters.
The environmentalist organization,
in its description of the events that lead up to the standoff, uncovered some
of the methods of land acquisition that are utilized by the large companies
in the Northeast: "The recently released Greenpeace report `Pará:
State of Conflict' showed clearly that all government-approved Forest Management
Plans in the Porto de Moz region are based on false or insufficient land title
documentation. Most of these plans are used to launder illegally cut wood
outside of the boundaries of the plans themselves.
"Our activists in
the Amazon were tipped off last week by ribeirinhos (traditional riverbank
settlers) about the problems caused by Selvapad, when the company cut a track
through the forest that cut deep into community land. The ribeirinhos also
reported that they had to physically stop 300 trees on their land from being
illegally cut. According to community members, these trees would certainly
have been `laundered' through Paulo Pombo's [Paulo Pombo Tocantins, landowner
with links to the Selvapad company] management plan documents."
Greenpeace representatives
encouraged concerned individuals and organizations interested in the preservation
of the Amazon and the rainforests to vote with their dollars by boycotting
the harvesters and companies that profit from the felled trees. "Our
Ancient Forest Campaign promoted ecological and social use of the forest resources,
as well as the creation of a network of protected areas in ancient forest
regions worldwide. We are urging companies to immediately stop buying wood
from Porto de Moz and the Prainha region, because most of the wood comes from
illegal and crime related areas," they appealed.
You can email
the author at jendasilva@yahoo.com
