The barbarity of land grabbing – i.e., land robbery – and deforestation in service of agribusiness continue, in Brazil, pending due diligence by large international players and innovation for food sovereignty.
The Amazon, as well as and the Cerrado and Gran Chaco, continues to burn. To the point that the largest tropical forest on the planet today generates more CO2 than it can absorb.
Indigenous people protest. There were 6,000 on behalf of 176 tribes, demonstrating in Brasilia at Camp Terra Livre 2022 on 6-8.4.22. But Jair Bolsonaro carries on with his necropolitics.
Brazil, policy serving agribusiness
The Parliamentary Front for Agriculture (FPA) has 241 deputies and 39 senators, about one-third of the total. It is supported by the agribusiness giants–starting withABCD (Archer-Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus)–that have led Brazil to the top of the world’s soybean, meat, sugar, fruit and coffee production.
80 billion dollars, this is theexport value of agribusiness in Brazil, explains the most heinous and systematic crimes against humans and the environment. And Jair Bolsonaro is undoubtedly the boldest president in supporting the growth yearnings of the two sectors-agribusiness and mining-hungry for virgin lands.
Marco Temporal, Paquete de muerte, Titula Brazil
Three laws, in being and becoming, formalize the green light for land grabbing and deforestation:
– the Marco Temporal demarcates the boundaries of ‘ancestral lands’ to those areas that indigenous people are able to prove they owned before 1988 (the year the Brazilian Constitution was promulgated),
– the Paquete de muerte, bill PL191, aspires to legalize mining in indigenous areas, in defiance of the federal Constitution (1).
– Titula Brasil, a bill adopted in February 2021, decentralizes and simplifies land grabbing procedures. (2) Land ownership decisions will thus be left to local politics, which will be even more opaque and sensitive to pressure from ruralistas.
MST, 38 years of unheard mobilizations
MST, the
Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra
, was officially formed in 1984 to promote agrarian reforms that respect peasants, workers in agriculture, rural and indigenous peoples. Sem Terra represents some 450,000 families engaged in the struggle for food sovereignty, mobilizations for basic human rights and solidarity.
The voice of the Sem Terra-despite daily reports on the crimes of the ruralistas, which can also be seen on social networks-remains unheard, however. Agribusiness-friendly reforms in Brazil began in the late 1990s, first with tax exemptions on agricultural commodity exports.
Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo estimate that 190 million hectares of land has been ‘legalized’ robbed in the period 2009-2020. To the detriment of the people who inhabited them and relied on them for their livelihood, before being driven out by para-military actions. In succession, ‘thanks to’ Lula (with the Terra Legal program), then Michel Temer (who is also remembered for corruption by meat giant JBS) and now Jair Bolsonaro.
Land grabbing and deforestation, due diligence and innovation wanted
A recent Greenpeace study revealed evidence of land grabbing in public forests in the Brazilian state of Pará, where huge areas have been rapidly deforested under the ‘(il)legal cover’ of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). (3) Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos has just denounced barbarities against human beings and the environment in Brazil linked to Bunge, ADM and TIAA, which manages US$1 trillion in U.S. pension funds. (4)
Moreover, deforestation and land robbery, in Brazil as elsewhere, can always be traced back to the international trade in agricultural commodities. And the responsibility of principals, in Italy as well as in Europe as we have seen, is obvious. (5) It is all the more indispensable:
– Accelerate the approval of draft EU regulations and directives on due diligence (6,7),
– Promote research and innovation on sustainable crops and protein sources that can reduce dependence on globalist commodities while respecting agroecology (8,9).
#Égalité!
Dario Dongo and Isis Consuelo Sanlucar Chirinos
Cover image by Patrícia Benvenuti https://centrodeestudosambientais.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/policia-prende-nove-militantes-do-mst-por-acao-contra-cutrale/
Notes
(1) Barbara Crane Navarro. Paquete de muerte. 5.4.22, https://bit.ly/3wBNPjE
(2) Brasil de Fato. Titula Brasil faz parte da maior ofensiva de grilagem pòs-ditadura. 12.4.22, https://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/30870
(3) Geenpeace Brasil. Gobierno de Bolzonaro lanza programa “Invade Brasil” otro regalo para acaparadores de tierras. 4.12.20. https://www.greenpeace.org/brasil/blog/governo-bolsonaro-lanca-programa-invade-brasil/
(4) Mariana Franco Ramos. Relatório implica Bunge e outras multinacionais em cadeias da soja oriundas de grilagem. De Olho nos Ruralistas. 9.5.22, https://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/30930
(5) Dario Dongo. Deforestation Made in Italy, Buycott! GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 10/23/19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/deforestazione-made-in-italy-buycott
(6) Dario Dongo. Due diligence and deforestation, stop unsustainable imports of commodities. Proposed EU regulation, ABC. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.3.22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/due-diligence-e-deforestazioni-stop-alle-importazioni-di-derrate-insostenibili-proposta-di-regolamento-ue-l-abc
(7) Dario Dongo, Elena Bosani. Due Diligence and ESG, corporate social and environmental sustainability, the proposed EU directive. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4/20/22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/due-diligence-ed-esg-sostenibilita-sociale-e-ambientale-delle-imprese-la-proposta-di-direttiva-ue
(8) Dario Dongo. From Farm to Fork to Farm to War, science’s call for a resilient food strategy. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 22.3.22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/da-farm-to-fork-a-farm-to-war-l-appello-della-scienza-per-una-strategia-alimentare-resiliente
(9) Dario Dongo, Isis Consuelo Sanlucar Chirinos. Alternative proteins are not enough to create sustainable food systems. IPES Food Report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 5/16/22, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/le-proteine-alternative-non-bastano-a-creare-sistemi-alimentari-sostenibili-rapporto-ipes-food
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in food engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she is attending the master's degree in 'Food Safety Lawyer and Consultant' at Alma Mater, University of Bologna.
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