Day 5 - Friday, May 22, 2009: Amazonas, Rio Negro

After studying environmental justice for the past several days, students were very interested in learning about the perspective of Brazilians who had grown up in the Amazon. Our exceptional tour guide, Anand Pooran (pictured at right), answered questions posed by the WVU Law students:

QUESTION: The Brasilian Government has an agency that is charged with enforcing Brazil’s environmental laws, IBAMA. How is IBAMA perceived by residents of the Amazon?

ANAND POORAN: Lately, IBAMA has been pressuring the Caboclos to leave their villages and lands. The Caboclos are not indigenous people; they have mixed blood: both indigenous and European ancestry. But they have lived in the Amazon for a very long time. IBAMA is telling the Caboclos that they must take their homes and communities and move to a different place.

QUESTION: Why is the Brasilian Government through IBAMA making Amazon residents leave their communities or villages and move?

ANAND POORAN: The Government is turning tributaries and river land into national parks and national reserves. Once the lands are turned into parks and reserves, IBAMA goes to the Caboclos that live on the river in these new parks and tells them that the law no longer allows for them to live in these areas. The Caboclos may no longer live, fish, timber, or grow manioc on the land in these new protected areas.

IBAMA tells the Caboclos: “no fishing, no camping, no logging, no tourism.” There is a group of islands in the middle of the river called the Anavilhanas Islands. Six communities that depend on the Islands are now forbidden from fishing, logging, and camping within that area. IBAMA will seize the boat, fishing nets, and anything used for fishing, logging, or camping if anyone in those six villages tries to fish, log, or live within that area.

QUESTION: Why is the government creating new reserves and parks in areas where individuals live?

ANAND POORAN: They would say they are protecting the forest, but “saving the rainforest” often hurts the local people. European countries sending money does not help “on the ground.” Often the IBAMA agents throwing people off their land are from Rio, São Paulo, or other big cities; they don’t come from Manaus or the villages. They don’t understand how the local people live, and whatever new jobs IBAMA creates are going to outsiders.

I’m not for deforestation, I’m against it. But the Caboclos aren’t the people causing deforestation. Most of the deforestation takes place in other states -- Mato Grosso and Para, for example – not along the Rio Negro. The pressure from IBAMA is in the wrong place.

QUESTION: Why is the deforestation primarily in these other states and not along the Rio Negro?

ANAND POORAN: For one thing, the soil here is very poor and doesn’t have as much potential for soy growing or even cattle ranching. But a big reason is also that labor is very cheap in these other places as compared to Manaus. Para is an extremely poor state and deforesters can hire people very cheaply to do the work of clearing, burning, and planting soy. They plant soy for several seasons, then graze cattle. In Manaus, you go to the grocery and spend $R 800 for a month of food. They would have to pay people more here.

There is also very little police presence in Para, and illegal deforesting is hard to prevent. The government has gotten better about enforcing laws against deforesting in the last few years, but they still have a long way to go.

QUESTION: You’ve been talking about the Caboclos. How do the environmental laws impact the indigenous people of Amazonas?

ANAND POORAN: IBAMA doesn’t hurt the indigenous people nearly as much as it hurts the Caboclos. The indigenous people have another government agency, FUNAI, which protects them. No one protects the Caboclos.

QUESTION: If the real problems are in these other states, why is IBAMA giving the Caboclos a hard time?

ANAND POORAN: I think the government is under a lot of pressure to look like they are doing something to save the Amazon. They ask for and receive some foreign money to help save the forest, and they want to show that they are making progress. But it’s hard to make progress against the land bandits who cut down trees in Para and Mato Grosso. They have guns and they are hard to find. It’s easier to focus on the Caboclos, who aren’t in a position to resist. I wish IBAMA would spend all its time on the real sources of deforestation and leave the Caboclos alone.