Brazil: Communities
hit by monoculture eucalyptus plantations exchange experiences
in Minas Gerais
On 19 and 20
March this year, peasant, indigenous and quilombola* communities
and movements from the States of Espirito Santo and Bahia who
are fighting to get back their territory invaded by monoculture
eucalyptus plantation companies, paid a visit to Raiz and Vereda
Funda in the locality of Rio Pardo in the north of Minas Gerais,
in solidarity and to exchange experiences with these two communities
struggling to regain their traditional territory.
Over 30 years
ago the northern region of Minas Gerais was taken over by companies
exploiting monoculture eucalyptus plantations for charcoal, the
energy source used in the production of iron and steel in the
scores of metal works located in the State. The invasion of eucalyptus
trees was devastating. The companies managed to plant over one
million hectares of eucalyptus, forming one of the world’s
largest continuous tract of plantations of this monoculture.
The companies
were mainly interested in the flat lands known as ‘chapadas.’
These lands were used by the traditional communities of the region,
called ‘geraizeiras’, to graze their cattle and to
gather innumerable fruit and medicinal plants from the ‘cerrado’
(savannah). As a result the communities were trapped in the valleys
and their streams and springs dried up. They were deprived of
their freedom to come and go over their own territory and are
even being criminalized every time they try to gather firewood
in the ‘chapadas.’ The companies’ big promise
had been employment. But in the locality of Rio Pardo de Minas,
the over 90 thousand hectares of eucalyptus gave rise to fewer
jobs than the artisan production of ‘caña’
(alcoholic drink produced from sugar cane) which provided 1,150
jobs and only covered 2,500 hectares. It should be borne in mind
that the employment generated by monoculture eucalyptus plantations
very often is degrading, with work carried out under appalling
conditions, jeopardizing the workers’ health and quality
of life.
Motivated by
the networking and meetings promoted over the last 10 years by
the Alert against the Green Desert Network – a network gathering
communities opposed to monoculture eucalyptus plantations who
are struggling to regain their territories – various communities
from the north of Minas Gerais started to organize themselves
to achieve this goal. Two of the communities that are struggling
are Vereda Funda and Raíz.
The first to
recover their territory in the region were the 130 families from
Vereda Funda. This territory covers 5 thousand hectares of collectively
used ‘chapada,’ which had been rented out by the state
government of Minas Gerais to the Florestaminas Company. Following
expiry of the contract and inspired by the struggle of the Tupiniquim
and Guarani indigenous people from Espírito Santo, in 2005
the community recovered an area of 5 thousand hectares with the
support of Via Campesina.
After much struggle,
confrontation and persecution, the community achieved definitive
control of the area which the state of Minas Gerais is presently
transferring to INCRA- a federal institution for agrarian reform
– in order to set up an agro-extractivist settlement.
Within the settlement each family will have its own area to plant
and there will also be collective areas for agro-extractivist
production and for cattle-grazing. The community, with the support
of the Rio Pardo de Minas rural workers’ trade union and
the Centre for Alternative Agriculture of Minas Gerais, drew up
a plan for reoccupation of the territory and a map, with some
areas corresponding to environmental rehabilitation of the cerrado
and others for crop growing. Embrapa Cerrados is contributing
with studies in the community towards this purpose. Regaining
the territory gave new encouragement to the community, particularly
to the older members as, on removing the eucalyptus plantations,
the springs are flowing again and wildlife is returning.
Furthermore, the community re-conquered a fundamental right: its
freedom.
At the Vereda
Funda community centre, the visitors were shown a pilot scheme
for an agro-forestry system and then were taken on a field visit
to a farm with corn, bean, cassava and other crops growing on
a piece of land that had been planted with eucalyptus. In this
area they want to plant various crops together in an agro-ecological
way, replacing the chemical monoculture eucalyptus plantation.
They were also shown an agro-industry making jams, where a group
of women work thus generating more income and labour.
The Vereda Funda
community served as a mirror for other struggles for land. For
example, the Raiz community, that was also visited. In the 80s
this community comprising 40 families underwent expropriation
of 3,600 hectares of their traditional territory for eucalyptus
exploitation and the land is presently in the hands of the Replasa
company. The monoculture eucalyptus plantation depleted the valley’s
water resources, forcing the families to move up to the ‘chapada’
in order to find adequate land for their crops. However the company
occupied the whole ‘chapada’ trapping the families
in the valleys. During the struggle, the community discovered
that the company considered that the valleys they inhabited was
its legal reservation. This made them even more aware that if
they did not adopt a strong stand they would also be evicted from
that area and outraged with this discovery, decided to start struggling
to regain their territory.
With the help
of the elders, the community of Raiz started to demarcate the
community area, resulting in a map. According to this map the
community had lost close on 3,600 hectares to Replasa. Immediately,
the community got mobilized and made public the self-demarcation
of its territory, once again following the example of the Tupiniquim
and Guarani indigenous people of Espirito Santo and of the community
of Vereda Funda. Subsequently, they stopped the company’s
machines from pulling up the tree-trunks of native cerrado trees
to plant eucalyptus. Later, in December 2009 with the support
of Via Campesina, the community finally recovered its traditional
territory with the construction of a camp, resisting eviction
up to the present although there is an eviction resolution threatening
its continuity on the site.
According to
the participants, this exchange and supportive visit was very
important in strengthening and encouraging the struggles, both
of Raiz and of Vereda Funda and also those of the communities
and movements of Espirito Santo and Bahia. And there are many
struggles. Only in the locality of Rio Pardo there are at least
18 disputes involving eucalyptus companies!
For those who
inhabit regions where encroachment by eucalyptus is at an initial
phase, such as in some parts of Bahia, the experience of the communities
visited was an example for trying to avoid the same process in
these regions. The communities of Minas Gerais also gave a practical
lesson on the importance of resistance, in particular that of
Raiz which is presently seriously threatened with eviction from
the area they have regained. A noteworthy aspect was that
of the strength of women who are actively participating in the
struggle. Additionally, an important aspect is the planting of
food crops to replace eucalyptus as well as the various experiences
aimed at implementing agro-ecological practices.
At the end of
the meeting, following a fairly positive assessment by all the
participants, those present proposed that these exchanges should
be continued as an essential element in encouraging, socializing
and strengthening the struggle in different states. Furthermore,
the participants showed great interest in continuing to organize
themselves on different fronts such as fostering knowledge and
exchange on reforesting with native trees, the promotion of agro-ecology,
political and ideological training and joint and mutual support
in concrete struggles against the expansion of monoculture eucalyptus
plantations and in favour of regaining the territories of the
quilombolas, indigenous, geraizeiros and peasant farming people.
By: Winnie Overbeek,
Alert against the Green Desert Network and Cepedes/BA, 23 March
2010
*Quilombolas:
the descendents of slaves that escaped from slave plantations
that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888
