Brazil’s right wing President, Michel Temer, has
abolished a 46,000 square km reserve of protected land in the Amazon
rainforest, and made it available for mining exploitation. To put that into context,
46,000 square kilometres is about nine times the size of Prince Edward Island.
Why the Rainforest Matters?
Why the Rainforest Matters?
With
the seemingly endless stream of natural disasters afflicting the globe this
summer - from the hurricanes in the U.S., to the Earthquakes in New Zealand, Mexico, and Indonesia – even skeptics accept
climate change is a problem.
According
to the World Wildlife Federation, the Rainforest is
crucial to filtering and removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, a gas
which drives global climate change. Without the rainforest, climate change is
likely to be even greater.
Tropical
forests also exchange water and energy with the atmosphere and are vital in
controlling local and regional climates. The water released by tropical forests
influences world climate and even ocean currents.
The
Amazon Rainforest is the earth’s largest and most diverse rainforest. If we
continue to see it destroyed, we will all lose the benefits of its biological
diversity (or “biodiversity”), which is critical to a variety of issues
pertinent to human health, including its ability to mitigate climate change.
Biodiversity is widely regarded as the link between all organisms on earth. It
binds each organism into the broader (and interdependent) ecosystem. In short,
biodiversity “is the web of life.” As members of the web of life, none of us
can afford to turn a blind eye to the destruction of the rainforest. A report
of the Convention
on Biological Diversity's 'Global Biodiversity Outlook 3' states it this
way:
We can no longer see the
continued loss of biodiversity as an issue separate from the core concerns of
society: to tackle poverty, to improve the health, prosperity and security of
present and future generations, and to deal with climate change. Each of those
objectives is undermined by current trends in the state of our ecosystems, and
each will be greatly strengthened if we finally give biodiversity the priority
it deserves[1].
In
case you need another reason why the Rainforest matters, consider that it’s
currently estimated that less than 1% of the plants in the Rainforest have been
studied for their medicinal potential. By destroying the rainforest, we might
lose cures to any number of diseases.
Despite the importance of the Rainforest and the
potentially catastrophic effects of its depletion, now that the reserve has
been abolished, over 20 mining companies have expressed an interest in
developing the area.
A Brazilian judge has temporarily halted the
plan to abolish the reserve and exploit the area, but campaigners believe
President Temer will push the plan through Congress.
Though the government and the companies may be more interested in profit than the future of the planet, organized labour, despite the need for jobs, is speaking out against plans to exploit the reserve area. The Confederacão Nacional dos Ramos Quimicos da Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CNQ-CUT) states:
The heart of the Amazon
forest, which is important not just in terms of the national environmental, but
also owing to its great influence on the dynamics of global climate, was
abolished by the stroke of a pen by the usurper Michel Temer.
The large mining companies had
access to privileged information regarding the government’s actions in advance.
The people did not take part in any discussion. Environmentalists, social
movements and the local community were not consulted.
There was no debate; the
measures benefit only the market. There is a need to discuss which model of
economic and social development the country wants to adopt. Actions that
prioritize primary resource extraction for foreign markets are part of an
outdated and backward model that only concentrates wealth….
Valter
Sanches, of IndustriALL Global Union, seconds their concern, and comments:
Turning a large
part of the Amazon rainforest into a mining concession would be a disaster.
Mineworkers want jobs, but not at the expense of the natural environment and
the indigenous communities who live there.
Canadian
Involvement
According
to a publication
of the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Canadian mining company, Belo Sun
Mining Corp., plans to build the largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil. The pit
will be located in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest and on the banks of the
Xingu river.
The
mine is expected to generate a great deal of toxic waste. Families and
indigenous people in the area, who live off the land, will need to be relocated
for the project to go forward.
The
indigenous communities directly affected by the Project have not been
consulted. Brazil is a signatory to Convention 169 of the International Labour
Organization (Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989)
which requires consultation.
Conclusion
This
story is, unfortunately, yet another example of the power of greed to overwhelm
the needs of people and the planet. As the CNQ-CUT campaign demonstrates,
people are more interested in having a future for their children and the planet
than in reaping the short-term gains of unsustainable environmental
exploitation.
That
a Canadian company is said to be involved in the potential destruction of the
Rainforest is disappointing, if unsurprising. Canada, of course, has a long
history of failing to engage in proper consultation with aboriginal peoples
before exploiting the natural environment. A recent example of this failure is
seen in Saugeen First Nation v. Ontario, where the Divisional
Court determined that the Provincial Government failed in its duty to consult
the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation before approving a limestone quarry on their
traditional lands.
But
it doesn’t all need to be bad news. The increasing climate disasters wrought,
in part, by the greed for profit, could be the catalyst that unites seemingly
disparate groups to campaign for the common cause of protecting the environment
and all of our futures. Organized labour, NGO’s, and concerned citizens could find
a silver lining in these threats to our environment (and world) and form a
broader, larger, and stronger union.
Union’s
all over the world have an opportunity to lead the charge for green jobs and a
sustainable economic activity. This has long been recognized as a possibility,
but this year might just be the year for organized labour to lead a focused
push in that direction.