Slavery in the Amazon

Photo courtesy from : www.flickr.com/photos/28488531@N08/3535380017

Violence is present in daily lives no matter where one resides. The Amazon is no exception. According to an article on mongabay.com, violence has been present in the rain forest since the arrival of European explorers. Today there is just as much violence due to slavery and competition over land. Most of the conflicts are between large landowners, poor colonists, and indigenous groups.
Land battles in Brazil's countryside reached the highest level this year than in the last 20 years. According to the annual report by The Pastoral Land Commission, a nongovernmental group, documented conflicts over land among peasants, farmers, and land speculators rose to 1,801 in 2004 from 1,690 in 2003 and 925 recorded in 2002. In the latest high-profile trial with the slaying of Dorthy Stang, an American nun who worked with the rural poor, by a gunman associated with plantation owners. The Brazilian government responded to this murder by sending in an army to put a halt to violence in the region and promised to step up environmental monitoring efforts.
The government has been actively trying to reduce violence by increasing efforts to end slavery. Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, but the government still acknowledges that at least 25,000 Brazilians work under slavery-like conditions, they clear land and perform intensive work for cattle ranches, soy farms, and other labor-intensive industries. Thankfully in 2005, Brazilian style SWAT teams freed 4,133 slaves after raiding over 183 farms.

Wildlife of the Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other global ecosystem on the earth. Thirty percent of the world's species are found in the rain forest. In a single bush you can find more species of ants than in the entire British Isles! Four hundred and eighty species of trees can be found in 2.5 Acres.

MAMMALS:

300 species are found in the Amazon, the majority is made up of bats and rodents.
The capybara is the world's largest rodent, which can weigh 200 pounds.
Sloths, anteaters, and armadillos are common to find here.

Giant Anteater: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ventbird.com/system/photo/image/1735/standard/Giant_Anteater_by_A_Whittaker.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ventbird.com/birding-tour/2007/10/31/brazil-emas-national-park&usg=__v487QkSLwrkCSbEODO-MISX3izI=&h=319&w=425&sz=37&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=IohOt6lQSiuORM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrazilian%2Banteaters%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS_en%26tbs%3Disch:1
Capybaba:http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/mammals.html

BIRDS More than 1500 species of birds are found in the Amazon Basin. Macaws are famous for gathering by the hundreds. The world's rarest bird is the Spix's macaw. Due to deforestation, only four birds remain in the wild.Spix's Macaw: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/birds.html

Macaws: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/birds.html

REPTILES Live animals are the fourth largest commodity in the smuggling industry. Drugs, diamonds and weapons are the leading commodities. Many of the reptiles located in the Brazilian Amazon are illegally collected and exported for international pet trade.

Photo: http://www.guitarfish.org/2007/08/23/amazon-trip-the-lizards-and-other-reptiles

Boa: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/reptiles.html

Farmers in Rondonia Contribute to the Increasing Destruction of the Amazon

According to news.mongabay.com, small scale farmers, who lease land from their government, can be accused for contributing deforestation to Rondonia, which is located in the Amazon area. The farmers have been receiving land since the 70s, sizing from a 247 Acres, from the Institute for Colonization and Land Reform as part of an agriculture project. The farmers seem to of broken the Brazilian Forestry Code, which states that only twenty percent of forest land can be cleared, while they are clearing fifty percent and increasing. Due to the agricultural projects, deforestation of the land has rose from 62 to 78 percent since 2002. Rondonia has recently become the a top milk producing city in Brazil. The agricultural project land houses calves for milk and for meat. Along with the Rain forest, the cows are also getting wiped out.

A new policy has come about to help with the reduction of land that farmers are clearing. The new policy states that the farmers have to report the percentage of forests in their land to the government. Once they report their percentage, the government will let them have more land as long as they stop deforestation. If the farmers break the treaty, they have to forfeit their granted land, and pay a fine. I think this policy will work great in reducing the amount of deforestation caused by the farmers. Everybody wins here, they receive extra land and we see a decrease in deforestation.

Photo taken from: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mnn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/500x480/photos/rondonia.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.scs.sk.ca/greenemailsignatureinitiative/2009/10/&usg=__8lJ2N9TsXkCjeMulPhHWLb58YI0=&h=400&w=500&sz=29&hl=en&start=30&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=rZjBpSLl262UdM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drondonian%2Bfarmers%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS_en%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1

Cattle Ranching in the Rainforest

After thorough research, I have found the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon Rain forest is cattle ranching. Ranching is usually done on a 1,000 or more acres of land, and hosts horses and cows that are raised and grazed on. Farmers started burning and cutting down parts of the rain forest in the 1970s, this gave Brazil the largest commercial cattle herd in the world.
"Since 2003, Brazil has topped the world's beef export charts and the government plans to double its share of the market by 2018" (Source).

Today, the situation is getting worse. According to CIFOR, "between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent" and by 2003 "for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production—80 percent of which was in the Amazon—was largely export driven."

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Some Rain forest activists have suggested that agricultural certification could help reduce clearing for cattle pasture. "Some environmental groups have opted to cooperate with landowners rather than continue to fight a losing battle. This type of cooperation originated with the logging industry, where furniture makers buying sustainably-harvested wood could hawk their environmentally friendly products to green consumers. Select ranchers are now working to adapt this approach to the agricultural industry which does even more harm to the rain forest than plain logging. One environmental group, the Nature Conservancy, announced an agreement where Cargill, a large agriculture company in the United States, will buy soya only from farmers who obey the Brazilian conservation laws or those working towards compliance" (Source).

In 2004 Alianca da Terra, which translates to land alliance in English, was put into play by American-born cattle rancher John Carter. Because of this organization, all Brazilian agricultural products carry a seal that reflects health, environmental and social standards. Alianca da Terra seeks market based solutions to slow the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. The alliance provides economic incentives to encourage farmers and ranchers in the rain forest to practice sustainable forest management. Some of the programs include a registry of landowners who practice sustainable forest management and a product certification for beef produced from environmentally friendly cattle ranchers. Since this organization has been in effect I hope it has greatly reduced the amount of land being cleared in the rain forest.

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The deforestation of the Amazon is a major problem in Brazil. "Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest (an area larger than Greece)and since 1970, 232,000 square miles of Amazon rain forest have been destroyed" (Rhett A Butler). In tropical countries the deforestation can be result from cultivators, in Brazil only about one-third of recent deforestation can be linked to cultivators. A large portion of deforestation can be blamed on land clearing for pastureland by commercial and speculative interests, government policies, World Bank projects , and commercial exploitation of forest resources. Every week will be an update of the current situation of the Amazon along with facts and pictures about issues that go on there, such as, endangered species, crime, violence, and slavery.
Photo provided by http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/images/brasil_085.html

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35640.htm