Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

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between eucalyptus plantations and natural forest. 143
In June 2008, the federal court in the city of Eunápolis passed a sentence ordering Veracel to plant with
native trees 96,000 hectares of land covered in licences granted between 1993 and 1996 for planting with
eucalyptus. Veracel was also fined US$12.5 million for deforesting areas of Atlantic forest. Once again,
the company denies the charge and plans to appeal. 144
Veracel claims that its guidelines which are supposed to prevent planting close to water sources or
streams prevent any impact on local water sources. Yet farmers interviewed in 2003 by SwedWatch said
that the water level in creeks, ponds and lakes was significantly lower than before Veracel started
planting. In some cases, watercourses have completely disappeared. Fishing and irrigation of agricultural
farmland became impossible. 145
In November 2005, I visited the Veracel area with colleagues from the Brazilian NGO network Alert
Against the Green Desert Movement. A local government official in Eunápolis told us how several
thousand people had moved into the area to work on the construction of the pulp mill. When the
construction work was finished, about five thousand people were left unemployed. Many of them stayed
in the area. The local authorities have to provide services for them, but Veracel contributes little in taxes.
Under a 1996 Brazilian law, exports are exempt from state sales tax. Veracel exports almost all its pulp.
The government official suggested that a law insisting that pulp companies sell at least 30 per cent of
their produce in Brazil would at least mean that the local authorities saw some benefits from pulp mills.
We visited the community of Maneco, not far from Eunápolis and spoke to villagers about how things
had changed since Veracel started planting its eucalyptus. “People have moved away since the eucalyptus
arrived,” one man told us. “In one commune everyone has moved away.”
This used to be a very rich area, villagers told us. One of the villagers we spoke to used to plant papaya
and passion fruit and had employed many people on a small area of land. But since Veracel arrived,
“There are no jobs here now and no money from the eucalyptus,” a villager said. The village shop owner
told us that business was down by about 80 per cent. The river near the village is drying up, and is
increasingly polluted by agrochemicals from the plantations. Plantation workers clean their tractors in the
river which further pollutes the water. Fish and even cattle have died as a result.
“Animals and birds have disappeared from the area, but now there are many snakes in the village,” a
villager told us.
The villagers from Maneco took us to see their cemetery. It is now completely surrounded by eucalyptus
plantations. We had to drive between the rows of trees to get there. Villagers told us of people getting lost
in the plantations on their way to a funeral. Veracel has even planted trees on part of the cemetery.
143 Måns Andersson and Örjan Bartholdson Swedish Pulp in Brazil: The case of Veracel, Swedwatch, 2004, page 31-32.
http://www.swedwatch.org/swedwatch/content/download/157/721/file/Rapport%20Swedwatch.Vercel.pdf
144 Winnie Overbeek (2008) “Brazil: Historic federal court decision sentences Veracel Celulose (Stora Enso-Aracruz)
for environmental violations”, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin 132, July 2008.
http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/132/viewpoint.html#Veracel
145 Måns Andersson and Örjan Bartholdson Swedish Pulp in Brazil: The case of Veracel, Swedwatch, 2004, page 37.
http://www.swedwatch.org/swedwatch/content/download/157/721/file/Rapport%20Swedwatch.Vercel.pdf