Ecologists in Action

1993/08/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Brazil's environmental protection movement suffered two violent blows last May, when two of its members were shot dead. Arnaldo Ferreira, head of the Rural Union of Eldorado do Carajas, Amazonia, was shot and killed on May 2 while he slept. Four days later, biologist Paulo Vinha was found shot dead on a beach in southern Brazil, in the town of Barra do Jucu in the state of Espiritu Santo. He had his camera, his money and his watch on top. Therefore, the cause of the murder was not theft.

Vinha had worked hard against the massive extraction of sand from beaches, dunes and marshes of the state. These extractions are deteriorating the coastal ecosystem. He was making a film about environmental catastrophe. On the other hand, Aracruz Celulosa, one of the largest producers of paper pulp in the world, also fought for years for eucalyptus plantations of this company, which is located in lands claimed by the Indians of the area.

Arnaldo Ferreira had strong relations with Greenpeace in Brazil and his main struggle was to stop the felling of mahogany trees in Indian lands and ecological reserves. According to Greenpeace spokespersons, he was ‘a great entrepreneur for the rain forest’.

These killings have been the last in a chain of attacks on environmental entrepreneurs. The most prestigious in the world was the murder of Chico Mendes (1988). The killers were caught and convicted, but this year they managed to escape from prison.