The Afro-Brazilian Quilombola
people were forced from
their land in Brazil in order to make way for eucalyptus plantations,
which produce toilet paper destined for Western markets. But they are
resisting by replanting native trees and food crops, and working for a
post-eucalyptus reality.
The principal use for the cellulose found in eucalyptus plants in
Brazil is disposable paper products, such as toilet paper and paper
towels - products most in demand in first-world markets. Yet these types
of paper products generate social and environmental impacts in places
in Brazil where many communities have never even had access to them.
According to economist Helder Gomes, a member of the Alert Against
the Green Desert Network, in the 1960s, international markets were under
pressure due to increased demand for pulp and paper and the difficulty
of widening production in countries where eucalyptus had traditionally
been produced.
"In the 1960s, studies done by the FAO [UN Food and
Agriculture Organization] indicated the difficulty of expanding
production in producing countries, due to the availability of land in
central countries, the long period of maturation and the pressure from
social movements against the rise in contaminating emissions and against
the expansion of monocultures."
This forced international bodies, such as the FAO itself, Gomes said,
to begin subsidizing the expansion of forestry programs in countries
like Brazil, where there were favorable ecological conditions for the
rapid growth of forests, available land, an abundance of cheap labor,
and government policies that would benefit and support the industry.
"There were monoculture plantations in unlikely places, near springs
and in zones where aquifers are replenished. The forests along the
riverbank were cut down; the path of the water was cut off; lakes were
filled in with dirt - and the biodiversity of the Atlantic forests was
decimated with insecticides and herbicides."
"The World Trade Organization, the World Bank and governments that
promote this system, which only a few multinational corporations benefit
from, are causing an economic genocide and destroying traditional
agriculture, and this means the destruction of entire towns and
communities."
"Of the 40 indigenous communities that existed during the first years of this industry, only six remained."
"What we are doing here is what our ancestors did. They fled from
conditions of slavery and created conditions for life in isolated
places. They opened clearings and produced from the earth."
"Perhaps in 100 years, a Quilombola individual will look at the
eucalyptus plantation and say that it is a forest, because he won't have
the reference of what a native forest is. The cellulose company knows
that if this memory is broken, there will be no more problems with
resistance."
According to Sebastiao Pinheiro, agronomist and professor at the Rio
Grande do Sul University, eucalyptus plantations do not generate
employment; they actually destroy the source of employment for thousands
of families. "The green deserts do not create jobs. Four hundred
hectares of eucalyptus would be required to create one job. In family or
small-scale agriculture, 10 people are required for one hectare. The
World Trade Organization, the World Bank and governments that promote
this system, which only a few multinational corporations benefit from,
are causing an economic genocide and destroying traditional agriculture,
and this means the destruction of entire towns and communities."
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