Tag: Amazon

Slave labor in the Amazon: risking lives to cut down the rainforest

  A rookie in the trade of cutting down trees, João* asked himself how life led him to this “terribly wrong” way to make ends meet. Camped out in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in the state of Pará, 90 kilometers from the Trans-Amazonian Highway, João regretted...

Investigation reveals slave labor conditions in Brazil’s timber industry

The dictionary definition of a settler, “one who emigrates to populate and/or exploit a foreign land,” does not just apply to the Brazilian colonial period. Even in the 21st century, the term settler is alive and well for families that have migrated from the south and...
Small time land speculators profit in advance of Amazon dams

Small time land speculators profit in advance of Amazon dams

Arlindo de Oliveira worked 30 years as a bricklayer in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. Now, he’s found a new job in the Amazon. He buys up land in the path of proposed hydroelectric dams in order to get relocation compensation from the companies building them....
Tapajós dam puts newly discovered species, indigenous people at risk

Tapajós dam puts newly discovered species, indigenous people at risk

At least eight mammals not yet cataloged by science were discovered during the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Brazil’s Sao Luiz do Tapajós hydropower plant, proposed for the western part of the state of Pará. Ironically, even as these Amazonian species are...
The Amazon rots away in new hydroelectric power plant reservoir

The Amazon rots away in new hydroelectric power plant reservoir

The Teles Pires hydroelectric power plant, built in the Amazon rainforest on the border of Mato Grosse and Para, will begin generating energy while trees rot in its reservoir. The debris, consisting of branches and logs from chestnut, mahogany, and other tree species,...