Amazon Protection Campaign Launched in Memory of Slain Leader

Ten years after the assassination of Brazilian rubber tapper Chico Mendes on December 22, 1988, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the National Council of Rubber Tappers of Brazil (CNS) announced the launch of an international campaign in defense of the Amazon rainforest and its people in Mendes’ memory.

The announcement came at a press conference held today at the Smithsonian Institution in which a panel of experts, including EDF senior scientist Stephan Schwartzman, displayed the latest NASA satellite images of Amazon destruction and discussed the future of the rainforest, the political climate in Brazil, and the fact that the unsustainable lending practices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may have become the rainforest’s biggest threat.

The international campaign will promote extractive reserves. First conceived by Mendes, “extractive reserves” are forest reserves held in trust and managed by the people of forest communities, such as the rubber tappers, who make a living collecting wild rubber latex in the forest. Over twenty reserves have been created in last decade by the Brazilian government, covering some 9 million acres, but local communities across the region are calling for many more.

“The crisis of the Amazon, ecologically and socially, has never been worse,” said Schwartzman, “but the political conditions to change the future of the forest have never been better. Chico Mendes fell ten years ago, but his vision and leadership are still alive today.”

Mendes, an Amazon rubber tapper, was internationally recognized for leading a grassroots movement in defense of the rubber tappers and the forest against cattle ranchers, who in the 1970s and 80s cleared the Brazilian forest and drove out rubber tappers. His assassination by ranchers in 1988 caused massive international protests and focused the attention of the world on the destruction of the Amazon.

Now, contrary to all expectations, Mendes’ former colleagues and companions in the struggle have come to power in many parts of the Amazon. Mendes’ former advisor is due to take office on January 1 as governor of Mendes’ home state of Acre. The rubber tappers’ success supports Mendes’ view that forest protection is more likely than its destruction to lead to prosperity.

Just as Mendes’ former colleagues are being elected to office in Brazil, the country faces severe austerity and deep budget cuts in an agreement with the IMF to protect its currency. Brazilian environmental protection programs have been cut some 65%, and the government has, incredibly, cut out grant funds for protection from the G7 nations.

“Our organizations are discussing with the US Treasury how the IMF package can be made more consistent with existing commitments by Brazil, the G7 donors and the World Bank to protect the Amazon,” said Schwartzman.