About 300 indigenous people are blocking a highway (BR101) in the south of Bahia, a state on the east coast of Brazil. They protest against the company Veracel Celulose, which is planning to build a new bleached eucalyptus pulp unit in Eunápolis (Bahia).

Already a great part of the area is covered with huge plantations of eucalyptus. Veracel Celulose is an association of Aracruz Celulose (Brazilian) and Stora Enso (Finnish-Swedish).

 

The 300 people have already stopped 50 trucks of Veracel. And they will continue to do this until they have a meeting with the president of Funai (the government organization for indigenous people).

 

To produce paper, eucalyptus offers several advantages compared to other forest species, including native trees. Thanks to Brazil’s favorable climate eucalyptus can be harvested in only seven years for pulp making – when it reaches 35 meters in height. The productivity is twice that of other native trees, and as such is an important competitive factor. President Lula of Brazil is stimulating the growth of eucalyptus. It has several economic benefits (97% of the pulp is meant for export). But what about the people and the environment?

 

Because of the eucalyptus monoculture the native plants of this area are disappearing and the landscape is changing. Secondly the factory and the plantations are situated on land that originally belongs to the indigenous people. Here Cabral, the discoverer from Portugal, set his first feet on Brazilian earth in 1500. After that millions of indigenous people moved away or were murdered. Since 1988 the Brazilian Constitution says that indigenous people have the right to return to the land that is originally theirs. But like in Bahia until now this is not possible because of the presence of Veracel on the land, which causes already a lot of tension and violence and it will continue.

 

 

Brasília – 20th of October 2004