São Paulo, May 22. Few Brazilians were familiar with the name of Joesley Batista, who with his brother, Wesley, owns Brazil’s biggest meat packing industry, JBS, now part of the multinational holding J&F. But the revelations of his secretly taped tête a tête with President Michel Temer, alone in the Jaburu Palace late at night on March 7, off...
Main image: Gamela indigenous people talk to police after the brutal attack by farmers in Maranhão state, Brazil. Photo: Ana Mendes/Indigenous Missionary Congress (CIMI)
SÃO PAULO, 9 May, 2017 − A recent violent attack on a group of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest of northern Brazil is seen by environmentalists as a symptom of a new climate of hostility...
This article supplements the post in Jan Rocha's blog for LAB, written just as Ladio Veron was setting out on his European tour.
“Vamos lá”, sighs Cacique Ladio Veron, . He looks weary, understandably: he has been on the road for over a month already, during which time he has visited Spain, Greece and Italy, meeting students, academics, journalists and...
Since 2001, Brazil has almost doubled its area of protected land without increasing its conservation budget.
In the central corridor of the Atlantic Forest, protected areas are scattered among large extensions of eucalyptus monocultures maintained by pulp companies.
With limited resources and facing powerful companies, those in charge of protected areas are stuck between a rock and a...
Brazil is the world's largest producer of eucalyptus-derived pulp and the state of Espírito Santo is one of its biggest production centers.
More than a third of the state, which was once rich in Atlantic Forest, is at risk of becoming desert.
The region faces one of the worst droughts in its history, which is causing billions in...
5 May 2017
THE TAPAJÓS UNDER ATTACK
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The Tapajós Under Attack
In October/November 2016, LAB editor Sue Branford travelled to Mato Grosso and Pará, Brazil, to examine the human and environmental impact of development and, in particular, the vast...
By the end of April 1977 the military dictatorship that called itself the ‘Process of National Re-organization’ had been in power in Argentina for over a year.
During that time all political and trade union activity had been suspended. The junta declared war on what it termed ‘subversives’ – mostly young people in organizations fighting to change the system either...
If the immigration agenda of Donald Trump and his administration is not enough of a racist assault on the human rights of Mexicans, the overall impact of this demagogue’s agenda on the economy of its long-suffering southern neighbour adds insult to injury.
The immediate effect of Trump’s victory and first 100 days in power has been to weaken an already...
Indigenous groups control large reserves in the Amazon and have the constitutional right to more, but agribusiness and land thieves are working with the Brazilian Congress and the Temer administration to prevent recognition of new indigenous territories, and to defund FUNAI, the federal agency representing Indian concerns.
In response, Brazil’s Indians are launching numerous protests. Last week more...
The battle for the Amazon is being fought over two opposing viewpoints: the first, mostly held by indigenous and traditional people and their conservationist allies, sees forests and rivers as valuable for their own sake, and for the livelihoods, biodiversity, ecological services and climate change mitigation they provide. For them the forests need protection.
The second worldview holds...