18 October 2007 - Para,
Brazil — Eight Greenpeace activists trapped
in a Brazilian environmental protection
agency (Ibama) office, for nearly two days,
have finally managed to escape. Our team
was forced to seek refuge in the Ibama Amazon
base, after loggers blocked them from transporting
a dead Brazil nut tree we had government
permission to collect and use.
300 loggers, with eight trucks, ten vans,
and 15 motorbikes surrounded the building.
Then, last night, Brazilian police escorted
our team to out of town.
We intended to use the Brazil nut tree
as part of a public exhibition exposing
Amazon destruction and its contribution
to global warming. The tree was taken from
land that had been illegally cleared and
burnt.
Government Sides with Loggers
Unfortunately, the Brazilian government
gave in to the loggers, and revoked Greenpeace's
license to remove, transport and exhibit
the valuable and protected Brazil nut tree,
now in custody of the loggers. Despite the
government back down, many loggers continued
to surround the building with our activists
inside. It was not until police committed
to escort them later that night, that the
Greenpeace team was able to make it to safety.
The loggers were undermining basic constitutional
rights such as security and freedom of movement.
It is the second time in two months that
Greenpeace has been harassed like this in
the Amazon jungle.
All this fuss over a tree
That a mob of 300, many of them involved
in illegal deforestation, was allowed to
stop eight activists from collecting one
dead tree shows how out of control the situation
is in this part of Brazil - and how special
Brazil nut trees are.
Since 1994, the Brazilian nut tree (Bertholettia
excelsa) has been protected by law from
burning and logging, but is still endangered
by illegal land clearing.
They can grow to over 50 metres tall, live
for 500 years and are integral to the rainforest
ecosystem. Brazil nuts grow in canon ball
like clusters about the size of grapefruits,
which can reach deadly speeds as they fall
from the canopy. Its fruit (nuts) are extremely
high in protein - eaten in the region and
exported to countries like the UK, Germany
and Italy. The nuts are one of the main
non-timber forests products in the Amazon.
About one million people depend on them.
Now this one tree is a symbol. On this,
even the illegal loggers and the activists
they blockaded agree. The loggers have said
they will build a memorial with the tree
in the town square. For us, this is a memorial
showing the lack of governance in the Amazon
- that the ones in charge aren't the government
or the people of Brazil, but the loggers.
Brazil: World’s fourth largest climate
polluter
Deforestation is responsible for three
quarters of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions,
and makes the country the fourth largest
climate polluter in the world. Our exhibition
using the Brazil nut tree to highlight this
has wide support across the country. Governors
of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have already
confirmed their attendance.
Brazil wants to be recognized as a serious
player on the international stage, yet can’t
even uphold its own constitution in the
Amazon. Greenpeace is calling for including
deforestation in the post-2012 Kyoto climate
regime to be discussed in Bali, Indonesia
this December.
As Marcelo Maquesini, one of the team trapped
inside the Ibama office said, "If Brazil
is to be taken seriously by the international
community in negotiations on climate, biodiversity
or human rights, then they need to be able
to enforce basic law and order in the areas
where forests are being destroyed."
Amazon deforestation must end
The Brazilian government should allow us
to take the Brazil nut tree as agreed. Tackling
deforestation is an urgent issue, and people
in Brazil (and around the world) have a
right to see first hand the consequences
of land clearing in the Amazon.
Greenpeace, in cooperation with nine other
groups, two weeks ago launched a proposal
for a national agreement to end Amazon deforestation
at an event attended by the Brazilian Minister
of Environment and State Governors. The
proposal seeks a broad commitment from the
Brazilian government and civil society to
create measures protecting the Amazon rainforest.
