President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree Tuesday
placing two million hectares of the Amazon rainforest under
government protection in the form of extractive reserves.
By creating the Verde Para Sempre and Riozinho do Anfrisio
extractive reserves in the state of Para, the President has dealt a
blow to the illegal loggers and land hungry ranchers and soy growers
who clear the forest that environmentalists call the lungs of the
Earth.
Extractive reserves are cooperatively managed by local
communities for low-impact activities such as rubber tapping,
vegetable oil extraction and small-scale logging. They must include
fully protected areas, safeguarded by the communities themselves.
Environment Ministery Marina Silva, who worked as a rubber tapper
in her teens, affirmed that the extractive reserves will serve the
local population of some 2,500 families.
"We will guarantee the preservation of areas and the end of
illegal occupations," Silva said in a statement.
Greenpeace, which for years has been fighting illegal logging and
land clearing, was delighted with the new reserves. "We are
extremely happy with Lula's decision to protect the Amazon and the
forest people who live here," said Paulo Adario of Greenpeace in the
Amazon.
Greenpeacers celebrate the new reserves by erecting a sign.
(Photo by Daniel Beltra courtesy Greenpeace)
"It's time to
celebrate. The legacy of Chico Mendes has been honored," he said.
With this decision, the Brazilian government has shown that the
future of the Amazon is not in the hands of illegal loggers or soya
and cattle farmers. It is in the hands of social justice,
environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural
resources by the forest peoples."
Last year Greenpeace had two ships in the area where, Adario
said, "local communities and forest are being destroyed for profit
at any cost. It is a lawless frontier where greed, corruption,
slavery and even murder are common place as loggers and ranchers
trash the forest for short term profits."
The Verde Para Sempre extractivist reserve is near the city of
Porto de Moz in Para state.
Porto de Moz has become the battleground between forest
communities and logging companies and farmers who illegally occupied
the area. Now farmers and loggers such as the Mayor of Porto de Moz,
Gerson Campos, and the logging company Madernorte - who have
illegally occupied community areas - will be removed. Only
properties with legally valid documents will get financial
compensation.
Maria Luisa, who lives in the Porto de Moz region, says the local
people have been fighting for their lives. "Many times I am afraid
of dying," she said. "They come with guns, knives and I get afraid,
but at the same time, I am not. Why? If I was born to fight for my
people, for life, if my destiny is to die, I will die for it. I will
not stop before all these injustices, to let things go because I am
afraid. I am not afraid!"
The Cargill corporation burns large areas of the Brazilian
rainforest in Para state to prepare for soya plantations. December
2003. (Photo by Daniel Beltra courtesy
Greenpeace)
She remembers the good old days before the
illegal logging and land clearing, before the threats to her life.
"Life here was very healthy," she said. "We used to live from our
hunting and fishing. I get very sad when I start remembering how it
was and how it is now. There wasn't greed, everybody used to live on
the land, and everything belonged to everyone."
The extrativist reserve of Riozinho of the Anfrísio is located in
the city of Altamira in Para state, a area of 736,340 hectares that
borders the National Forest of Altamira and the Aboriginal Lands
Xipaya and Dry Cachoeira.
Currently 47 families, about 220 people, live an isolated
existence in this region. About 200 families once lived here, but
many were banished by squatters, the Environment Ministry said
Tuesday.
For two weeks the Environment Ministry hosted three community
leaders from Riozinho do Anfrisio - Herculano Oliveira, Raymond
Belmiro and August Luiz Conrado - in Brasilia to discuss with the
government the criteria for the new reserve.
In one meeting with Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos they
obtained a promise that a "Caravan of Citizenship" would be sent to
the isolated region to regularize the legal situation of the people,
providing them with legal documents such as birth certificates.
The Amazon rainforest of Brazil covers some 5.7 million square
kilometers (2.2 million square miles) - about 75 percent the size of
the Australian continent.
Only about four percent of rainforest is contained in
environmental reserves, while 20 percent is protected as indigenous
reservations.
At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, the
Brazilian government, the Global Environment Facility, the World
Bank, and WWF launched a new program that will triple the amount of
the Amazon rainforest under federal protection to 12 percent of
Brazil’s total forest area by the end of the year 2012.
The 10 year Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) program sets
aside 50 million hectares of Amazon rainforest under federal
protection. The protected area will include samples of all 23
Amazonian eco-regions.
