Espírito Santo — Beatriz Cassiano was working in her vegetable garden when she suddenly heard her grandson yelling Cassiano recalls being caught off guard by an airplane dropping pesticides as it flew over the homes in her community but they were turning in the air over our people’s properties,” she says and my arm started to itch.” Her garden didn’t withstand the impact of the pesticides The community of Linharinho lies in the municipality of Conceição da Barra a part of Espírito Santo state known as Sapê do Norte a traditional Brazilian community originally formed by runaway enslaved people There are 32 quilombos in Sapê do Norte officially recognized by the government’s Palmares Cultural Foundation Community members tell Mongabay that the plane sometimes flies so close to their homes that the pesticides land on their bodies The situation is causing concern about the safety of consuming food they grow on their own land and the water they drink from natural sources because they could be contaminated when the company Fibria Celulose called a meeting in Linharinho to say they would begin aerial pesticide spraying in the region The community responded with requests that the company be transparent about the products applied and the way they would be applied and present a technical report proving that the applications were safe which guarantees prior communication to traditional communities before any action that may impact their territories and ways of living is carried out but according to Leovegildo dos Santos Evangelista Evangelista tells Mongabay that the community has suffered losses because of the crop dusting “We had a field of pumpkins and a banana orchard; it all turned yellow and died.” It killed everything — all my banana trees that had fruit hanging on them.” Evangelista recalls how his daughter was hit with the pesticide: “When the plane came by as it was turning She had surgery that today costs 30,000 reais [$5,775] He says that he himself had “stomach problems because of that bad water we were drinking,” following the incident Maria Helena de Jesus Gomes also says that her health has been “terrible” since the crop dusting began She adds that the stress and insecurity generated by the conflict led to deterioration of the community’s mental health The symptoms described to Mongabay by many different community members are the same as symptoms of acute intoxication from pesticides commonly found in many active ingredients, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s index the continual consumption of contaminated water and food can lead to the development of chronic health problems With regard to the damage done to food crops in the quilombo, the scientific literature shows that the inadequate use and incorrect application can cause yellowing The community’s claims strongly suggest that there is a serious violation of human rights underway which requires rigorous investigation supported by conclusive laboratory testing In the EU, aerial application of pesticides has been prohibited since 2009 because of potential harm to human health and the environment One problem associated with the practice is drift — when the pulverized liquid wafts away from the intended target There are many factors influencing the trajectory of the powder during application distance from the target and the speed of the plane dropping the poison All must be carefully considered before any application to reduce risk of accidents and adverse effects the Federal Prosecutor’s Office filed a civil action in 2019 against Suzano because of the incidents in Morro da Onça demanding adaption of its procedures according to current legislation and security parameters in addition to the creation of a communication protocol for providing the communities with information as well as compensation for collective material damages since it began using aerial application in 2017 it “has consistently worked to implement the best processes possible proactively informing communities of its activity and adhering strictly to applicable policies and standards.” The company highlights that “a procedure for communicating the aerial application of pesticides to traditional communities has been developed.” With regard to the 2017 incident in Linharinho Suzano says it “acted promptly (within the timeframes of the dialogue process) was open to understanding their perspectives Suzano has not registered any external complaints on this subject in the Company’s communication channels or during other ongoing dialogues with the communities.” Suzano mentions that “all pesticide applications undergo prior inspection by specialized teams” and that it “rigorously selects evaluates and monitors all service providers especially those responsible for pesticide application ensuring compliance with the Company’s supplier standards.” Read Suzano’s full response to Mongabay here Land conflicts between traditional communities and the pulp and paper industry in northern Espírito Santo go back to the 1970s, a period when Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship and when the nation turned the tables on being an importer of bleached pulp to being one of the world’s biggest exporters It is estimated that at the start of the 1970s, the Sapê do Norte region was home to some 12,000 quilombo families distributed among more than 100 communities The dynamics of the region began to change with the arrival of pulp and paper manufacturer Aracruz Celulose The Brazilian federal government had at the time implemented legislation favoring eucalyptus farming that included fiscal incentives such as income tax exemptions for individuals and companies that invested in tree planting Laws were also enacted that made it more difficult for rural Black communities to remain on their land or even to obtain property titles. One example is Delegated Law 16 which served as a roadblock for Indigenous peoples and Quilombolas (quilombo community members) to be able to prove ownership of their territories acquisition of “unoccupied” land was facilitated which led to a practice where many Aracruz employees requested titles to these land areas so they could later transfer them to the company’s name some Indigenous people and Quilombolas who remained in the region worked under precarious conditions in the pulp and paper production chain João Batista Guimarães is an agricultural technician and Quilombola leader in the Angelim 1 community “What they told us was that everyone would have a job and life would be good even though the people from the quilombos left their land who raised eucalyptus seedlings for the pulp and paper sector from the age of 13 the promises of wealth and development proved to be empty — with neither land nor work around 90% of the quilombo population from Sapê do Norte was forced to move to the slums on the outskirts of large cities to survive Many people from our own community left to live there,” recalls Linharinho community member Fernando dos Santos A Parliamentary Inquiry Commission established in 2002 by the Espírito Santo Legislative Assembly and decisions on two public civil actions carried out by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in 2013 and 2015 proved fraud in the acquisition of 30 rural properties by Aracruz during the 1970s the merger between Aracruz and Votorantim Celulose e Papel resulted in Fibria The spread of monoculture farming in the region and the subsequent loss of native forest led to a series of impacts on the way people in local traditional communities lived The most serious were the disappearance of bodies of water a drop in agricultural productivity and the extinction of native flora and fauna rivers and over 2,000 strategic springs that fed main waterways “Of the more than 30 fish species who used to live in each of these rivers in Sapê do Norte only three or four remain,” the agricultural technician adds “The poison that they throw in the soil goes straight into the water We no longer wash our clothes in the river because we’re afraid of eating a fish that’s ruined.” This restricted access to natural resources and concern over pesticide poisoning means that holding on to traditional ways of life is discouraging or even impossible “They [young people] no longer eat the food from our culture We didn’t used to have these sicknesses we have now and the food we ate was more like medicine for us — something good The difficulties also impact the community’s ritual practices “We [traditional communities] need water for everything Even our rituals can no longer be carried out with water to drink and for [spiritual] cleansing baths.” “The people of Sapê do Norte are getting sick We have cases of people who were hospitalized because they had been poisoned This [comes] from the dusting and the 200 types of pesticides that were legalized in recent years by the previous administration [of former President Jair Bolsonaro].” As a result of the process begun during the military dictatorship the Quilombola communities in Sapê do Norte today live on small plots of land surrounded by extensive monoculture farms It is a state of confinement that they refer to as “pressed.” only four of the 32 community territories have been officially delimited This lack of land and the degradation of natural resources are forcing Quilombolas to seek sustenance for their basic needs outside their territories “We can’t even get the food we need here because the land is no longer in the hands of the Quilombola people It is in the hands of pulp and paper and agribusiness And the food that gets here for our people [to eat] comes from somewhere else And it comes with poison in it,” explains João Batista The expectation of gaining title to their territories keeps hopes alive that those who migrated to the cities will someday be able to return to their traditional territories and live in a dignified way “We are trying to get our territory back so we can bring back a few of those people and show them that they can have a better life in the country.” As long as the problem hasn’t been resolved Beatriz Cassiano tells how the memory of their ancestors is what drives them to fight for their land and their good living so our young people can follow the same path Now they are gone and we have to stay here and fight the same fight so we know we can make it.” Seated in the living room of her house as afternoon settles, Elda Maria echoes Cassiano’s words, sharing with us one of the songs she composed during the time when the Linharinho quilombo reclaimed its land: “We want justice on Earth we already have justice in Heaven/We want land on Earth we already have land in Heaven/Eucalyptus farms are not food/Rice Banner image: Elda Maria dos Santos shows a map of the Linharinho quilombo’s territory whose inhabitants are still awaiting title to their land This story was reported by Mongabay’s Brazil team and first published here on our Brazil site on Apr The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] The Afro-Brazilian Quilombola people are resisting the cellulose industry in Brazil and working for a post-eucalyptus reality Help Truthout keep publishing stories like this in 2015! Make a tax-deductible donation today. 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 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 which includes the cities of Sao Mateus and Conceicao da Barra has been heavily affected by eucalyptus plantations the plantations occupy 70 percent of the territory a stretch of close to 300 kilometers in length is covered by eucalyptus trees small remnants of the native forest and its biodiversity can be seen This area is also a symbol of Afro-Brazilian resistance; it is the land of the Quilombolas The name Quilombola comes from the Kimbundu language one of the Bantu languages widely spoken in Angola Places where rebel or fugitive slaves lived were called quilombo – in hidden corners of the city or out in the countryside used in Brazil to describe a rebellious person of African descent “Quilombola is a specific type of person of African descent They were brought from Africa during colonial times like the others but they refused to submit to slavery and represented Black resistance living in isolated communities made up of 20 or 30 families Their descendants stayed in those in these places,” Marcelo Calazans told Truthout He works with the Federation of Organizations for Social and Educational Assistance (FASE) an organization that has worked for 30 years on issues related to the impacts of eucalyptus cultivation in the state of Espirito Santo there was a port where people recently brought from Africa were bought and sold Many of them fled the ships before they reached the docks They escaped and sought refuge in the forests but emancipation was not accompanied by measures that would have permitted Afro-Brazilian communities to continue living in rural zones these communities were legally recognized in the 1988 constitution although it did not guarantee the preservation of the quilombo territories a large number of these communities survived in rural areas as evidenced by the communities of Sape do Norte The machine that cuts down the eucalyptus trees with the arrival of the eucalyptus cellulose extraction industry the Quilombolas suffered a new blow and families were forced to abandon their land some moving to the big cities in search of survival It is estimated that before the arrival of eucalyptus there were around 15,000 Quilombola families Today that number has dropped to 1,200 families who reorganized themselves into 32 communities in Sape do Norte These Quilombola descendants are dispersed in communities isolated from one another by eucalyptus plantations living under the pressure of the cellulose industry and its effects “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 This in turn made agricultural cultivation impossible unless pesticides were used,” according to Simone Batista Ferreira a researcher with the geography department of the Federal University of Espirito Santo The company Aracruz Celulose arrived in Espirito Santo in the 1960s It was initially made up of shareholders such as Souza Cruz (a subsidiary of British American Tobacco) the Lorentzen family Group – which is connected to Norwegian royalty – and the Safra Group The Brazilian state was a partner through its purchase of stock through the National Economic Development Bank (BNDE) – now referred to as the BNDES – for a share later reduced to 12 percent Aracruz Celulose changed its name and Fibria Celulose was born the result of the merger of Aracruz Celulose and Votorantim Celulose and Paper (VCP) Fibria is considered a global leader in the production of eucalyptus cellulose It is the only company in the global forestry industry that is listed on the Dow Jones index and traded on the New York Stock Exchange A quilombola girl in a reclaimed area where there were eucalytpus plantations for over 40 years without animals; not a single bird flies through this place – a dubious forest eucalyptus plantations are known as silent forests because there are no birds aside from their green characteristic military-uniform hue they are called “green deserts” because they contain no life Brazil is the fourth largest producer of cellulose worldwide According to the 2014 report on the Brazilian Tree and Forest Industry (IBA) the area where forests were cultivated in Brazil reached 7.6 million hectares in 2013 Eucalyptus represents 72 percent of the total with a total area of just under 5.5 million hectares 15.1 million tons of cellulose and 10.4 million tons of paper were produced The industry’s objective is to reach production levels of 22 million tons of cellulose in Brazil by the year 2020 a member of the Alert Against the Green Desert Network 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 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,” Gomes told Truthout to begin subsidizing the expansion of forestry programs in countries like Brazil where there were favorable ecological conditions for the rapid growth of forests and government policies that would benefit and support the industry There were eucalpytus plantations here for over 49 years Aracruz Celulose is directly responsible for the destruction of at least 43,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in the municipality of Aracruz is home to three of the primary factories that process tree cellulose This destruction was documented in an environmental impact evaluation report completed by the Technological Institute of the Espirito Santo State University in 1988 which was required in order for the company to obtain the permits for its first production expansion “through aerial photograph analysis obtained at the start of the 1970s it was found that 30 percent of the surface of Aracruz was covered by native forests which were then substituted for homogeneous eucalyptus trees.” but also forced the communities that lived there to leave “Of the 40 indigenous communities that existed during the first years of this industry only six remained,” said Sebastiao Ribeiro Filho a lawyer and member of the Alert Against the Green Desert Network the air is suddenly filled with an acidic stench millions of liters of chemicals are required There is no strict regulation of their use the plantations are constantly attacked by pests and other plant species that have to be combated using chemicals such as Glifosato or Mirex The insecticide is prohibited in all its formulations and uses because it is harmful to human health and to the environment “The workers die of poisoning and from accidents and they don’t talk about this,” Loureiro said “Employees don’t receive training regarding [the risk of] poisoning and many times they bring their work clothes home and wash them with their children’s clothes.” (Photo: Santiago Navarro F)Daniela Meirelles who has given workshops to women’s groups made up of women who work for cellulose companies adds that the company promotes gender equality by giving employment opportunities to women with the intention of integrating women into production promotes a gender policy in order to contract Quilombola women The thing is that the work consists of fumigating the trees without the protection and information needed about the chemicals being used,” Meirelles told Truthout 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 Four hundred hectares of eucalyptus would be required to create one job 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,” Pinheiro told Truthout We lived off of agriculture in the countryside The devastation was not tree by tree; it was done using giant chains 100 meters long pulled by tractors Each link in the chain must have weighed 100 kilograms There were trees with huge diameters that couldn’t withstand the chains,” John Ramos de Souza said He is Quilombola and from the Angelim 1 community “I saw many monstrous things done by the company without knowing what the consequences would be suspended one of the credit lines of Fibria as a cautionary measure It was the one from the federal government’s National Economic and Social Development Bank that went to the Quilombola zone in northern Espirito Santo Fibria is being accused of fraud for the way it obtained land for its plantations former employees of the company claimed to be small-scale farmers before the state government in Espirito Santo with the goal of obtaining titles for the “unused” land the employees transferred these property titles for land located between Conceicao da Barra and Sao Mateus the period in which the areas remained legal property of the employees didn’t last even a week before they were transferred ARUE Ticumbi.What did the people do wrong?What did the people do that was so wrong These questions are part of a song that was sung by African descendants during the time of slavery and that the Quilombolas of Barra da Conceicao maintain as a tradition in a ritual called Ticumbi they ask Saint Benito the causes of all the loss they have suffered: the loss of their land the song seems to gain another dimension in Ticumbi master Souza’s voice: one of resistance The culture of his ancestors serves as a point of strength in order to resist new forms of slavery this time due to the neocolonialism of eucalyptus “We are communities cut off by eucalyptus and we are here resisting,” Souza said in the 1960s and ’70s was forced off his land twice which is where he obtained subsistence for his family “The people who claimed to be the owners of the land showed up and pressured us to leave And that was how the land was transferred to the company [Aracruz],” he said Our path against eucalyptus means returning to the land that belonged to our ancestors and continuing to grow food,” he tells Truthout Angelim 1 is a place of land recovery for the Quilombola families After the clear-cutting of trees by the company families returned to the area and began a process of soil regeneration “After 40 years of planting eucalyptus in the same place The soil is very dry; it rains and the water disappears Many said that we wouldn’t be able to plant anything but we are seeing that with patience and a lot of work it is possible In five years I think we will be able to make it so that the soil is how it was before the eucalyptus were planted,” said Falcao and they call them the transition to a post-eucalyptus time the transition is started with plants such as watermelon We are already growing various species of beans and we are starting to sell them in small markets in the community The goal is to form a sort of cooperative here,” he said land recuperation is also taking place in Linharinho the transition effort is to plant according to an agroecological model in order to recuperate the soil which means planting food crops along with native forest species the technique is to plant trees from a native forest that are brought from other places other crops such beans and pumpkins are planted This is how we are going to rebuild the forest and the harvest at the same time it will require even six or seven years for the wild animals to return again and for the water resources to recover,” Antonio Rodrigues de Oliveira Rodrigues says that he arrived in this place with few resources “We can’t expect anything from the government We will go slowly because we don’t have infrastructure He also says that the situation is difficult and he remembers that the company arrived to plant eucalyptus even in the cemetery where his grandparents were buried wild pigs and armadillos living as we lived migrating and searching for what was necessary to survive.” He believes that there is no time to complain; it is time to work hard and rebuild what has been destroyed He doesn’t hesitate to compare the situation in his community to that of his ancestors “What we are doing here is what our ancestors did known as Senzala [the place where slaves were held as prisoners on huge plantations] and created conditions for life in isolated places They opened clearings and produced from the earth who has worked on various plantations and at one point migrated to the city the number of eucalyptus trees that are harvested every day establishes the rhythm and velocity of production In order to operate at maximum production levels long trees that are thin and without branches tells Truthout that it is necessary to build the knowledge that will allow a cultural shift in the transition to a post-eucalyptus reality “We can no longer live lamenting the disappearance of the river and the fresh water spring that dried up and the trees that disappeared These 40 years of eucalyptus plantations will not be forgotten overnight experimenting with how it is that we are going to go about this recovery in order to build transitional knowledge,” Guimaraes said The land that has been retaken is part of this process “These areas are serving so that we can create this understanding of the transition We live with certain amounts of tension due to the fact that this land is being disputed and they could force us to leave at whatever time the company requests it As they advance with their modern machines our form of insurgence is to plant food with our hoes but we are recuperating the land and our independence,” he said This is the first generation that is retaking land primarily for the production of food “It is the memory of the oldest ones that is strengthening our struggle,” Guimaraes told Truthout One of the controversies at play is the memory of what the Atlantic Forest used to be and the passing on of this memory to the younger generations 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,” Calazans said “The cellulose company knows that if this memory is broken there will be no more problems with resistance.” The generation of people in the state of Espirito Santo that remember the Atlantic Forest will be gone within the next 30 years “These people have seen and lived in the forest If they die and we still have not transitioned beyond eucalyptus back to native forests and traditional agriculture,” said Calazans “Memory assures the dream of these territories we will no longer be able to think in a post-eucalyptus time,” he added “We have to invest in building understanding of this transition These next three decades are strategically important in this fight.” We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance join our community of sustainers by making a monthly or one-time gift Santiago Navarro is an economist, a freelance journalist, photographer and contributor to the Americas Program, Desinformémonos and SubVersiones Miriam Taylor is a sociologist and professional interpreter and translator in Spanish and English language Renata Bessi is a freelance journalist and contributor the Americas Program and Desinformémonos. She has published articles in Brazilian media: The Trecheiro newspaper magazine, Página 22, Repórter Brasil, Rede Brasil Atual, Brasil de Fato, Outras Palavras. We fell short of our goals in our most recent fundraiser. Help us meet our basic publishing costs by the end of April. Make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly gift to Truthout today. Share via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe Four Brazilian municipalities joined in litigation pursuing BHP for £18 billion ($36 billion) in the British courts have quit the high-profile class action related to the Samarco dam disaster that killed 19 people and destroyed towns and infrastructure in Brazil Sao Mateus and Conceicao da Barra – comes less than eight weeks since BHP and its Samarco partners struck an alternative $US31.7 billion ($50 billion) compensation deal with the Brazilian government SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy link Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.