Brazil to Protect Amazon Lands Following Assassination of Nun

The protected acres take the form of five new conservation units. Two of the new areas, with a combined area of 7.4 million acres, are located in the Middle Land, between the Xingu River and Tapajós rivers in the State of Pará. The other three conservation units are in the neighbouring states of Acré and Roraima. The lands under the deforestation moratorium extend the length of state highway BR-163, a road that runs through the Middle Land, and are on the left side of the road. The lands on the right are protected indigenous lands.

“Although the creation of protected areas is part of the government’s plan to curb Amazon deforestation, this announcement is a clear reaction to the assassination of Sister Dorothy Stang and the escalation of violence related to land conflict in the Amazon State of Pará,” said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon campaign co-ordinator.

The new conservation units and the moratorium have a total land area of 32 million acres, approximately the size of England. Since last year, Lula’s government has also created other protected areas totalling 4.9 million acres.

“This is a critical step to protect the Amazon and in particular the Middle Land, but it is just the beginning,” said Adario. “Now the government needs to implement the protected areas and the moratorium, immediately remove the loggers and land grabbers who illegally occupy these areas and ensure police protection for local communities. There is a real potential for increased violence in conflict areas following this announcement.”

The Middle Land region is one of the largest relatively undisturbed areas of rainforest in the eastern Amazon and is extremely threatened by illegal logging, the expansion of the agribusiness frontier, land grabbing, slavery and violence. Greenpeace has worked for Middle Land protection since 1995, exposing those responsible for the illegal exploitation and trade of mahogany, and working with local social movements for a mosaic of protected areas. In the last three years more than 395,000 acres were illegally deforested in the Middle Land.