Abstract
This article explores and explains deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. It primarily takes a green criminological perspective and looks at the harm that is inflicted on many of the Amazon’s inhabitants, including indigenous populations such as ‘uncontacted’ tribes of hunters-gatherers, the oldest human societies. The green criminological perspective also implies that the definition of victimisation is being enlarged: not only (future) humans, but also non-humans can be considered victims. Being the most biodiverse place on the planet, deforestation of the Amazon leads to threats and extinctions of animal and plant species. The main causes of deforestation in the Amazon are land conversion for agriculture (mainly cattle, also soy), practices that are mostly illegal. As the products of the (illegally) deforested rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon are mainly for export markets, western societies with large ecological footprints could be held responsible for deforestation of the Amazon.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This is why in dense tropical rainforests such as the Amazon with little wind, trees primarily make use of animals for their reproduction. It is not in the interest of a tree to have its species nearby, as they would compete over the same nutrition. Animals however can bring seeds over large distances (Tudge 2006: 343–344). In the Amazon, with 5–6% of the forests being flooded part of the year, sometimes several meters high, fish also spread seeds. One Amazonian fish in particular, the tambaqui, eats the large rubber seeds.
On the Internet (Wikipedia, Youtube, etc.) information can be found about Sister Dorothy, her work, her murder, and details of the different trials.
In the history of the planet of several billion years, there have been five waves of mass extinction. We currently are at the beginning of the sixth.
References
Associated Press. (2008). Brazil reveals ‘uncontacted’ Amazon tribe. Government decides to release photos to alert world to threat to Indians. New York: Associated Press.
Beaumont, P. (2008). Secret of the ‘lost’ tribe that wasn’t. The Observer. June 22, 2008.
Beirne, P., & South, N. (Eds.). (2007). Issues in green criminology. Confronting harms against environments, humanity and other animals. Devon: Willan.
Boekhout van Solinge, T. (2002). Drugs and decision-making in the European Union. Amsterdam: Mets & Schilt.
Boekhout van Solinge, T. (2008a). Eco-crime: The tropical timber trade. In D. Siegel & H. Nelen (Eds.), Organized crime. Culture, markets and policies (pp. 97–111). Dordrecht: Springer.
Boekhout van Solinge, T. (2008b). Crime, conflicts and ecology in Africa. In R. Sollund (Ed.), Global harms. Ecological crime and speciesism (pp. 13–34). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Boekhout van Solinge, T. (2008c). The land of the Orangutan and bird of paradise under threat. In R. Sollund (Ed.), Global harms. Ecological crime and speciesism (pp. 51–70). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Boekhout van Solinge, T. (2010). Equatorial deforestation as a harmful practice and criminological issue. In R. White (Ed.), Global environmental harm. Criminological perspectives (pp. 20–36). Devon: Willan.
Butchart, S. H. M., et al. (2010). Global diversity: Indicators of recent declines. Science, 328, 1164–1168.
CIMI—Conselho Indigenista Missionário. (2009). Violência contra os povos indígenas no Brasil. Brasilia: CIMI.
CPT—Comissão Pastoral de Terra. (2009). Conflitos no campo Brasil 2008. Goiâna: CPT.
de Mello, T., & Marigo, L. C. (2007). Amazonas. Patria da água–Amazonas Water Heartland. São Paulo: Editora Boccota. (publication in Portuguese and English).
EIA and Telapak. (2004). Profiting from plunder: How Malaysia smuggles endangered wood. London: EIA.
EIA and Telapak. (2005). The last frontier. Illegal logging in Papua and China’s massive timber theft. London: EIA.
EIA and Telapak. (2006). Behind the Veneer: How Indonesia’s last rainforests are being felled for flooring. London: EIA.
Gillison, D. (2002). New Guinea ceremonies. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Goulding, M., Barthem, R., & Ferreira, E. (2003). The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon. Washington & London: Smithsonian.
Greenpeace Brazil. (2009). Amazon cattle footprint. Mato Grosso: State of destruction. Manaus/São Paulo: Greenpeace Brasil.
Greenpeace International. (2003). State of conflict. An investigation into the landgrabbers, loggers and lawless frontiers in Pará State, Amazon. Amsterdam: Greenpeace International.
Grudgings, S. (2008). Group denies misleading media over Amazon tribe, Reuters. Rio de Janeiro, 24 June 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN24332207.
ISA—Instituto Socioambiental. (2007). Almanaque Brasil Socioambiental 2008. São Paulo: ISA.
Jackson, J. (2008). The thief at the end of the World: Rubber, power, and the seeds of Empire. New York: Viking.
Kangaspunta, K., & Marshall, I. H. (Eds.). (2009). Eco-crime and justice. Essays on environmental crime. Turin: UNICRI.
Leakey, R. E., & Lewin, R. (1996). The sixth extinction. Patterns of life and the future of humankind. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
London, M., & Kelly, B. (2007). The last frontier. The Amazon in the age of globalisation. New York: Random House.
Malhi, Y., Timmons Roberts, J., Betts, R. A., Killeen, T. J., Li, W., & Nobre, C. A. (2008). Climate change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon. Science, 319(5860), 169–192.
Meggers, B. J. (1971). Amazonia: Man and culture in a counterfeit paradise. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Mendes, C. (1989). Fight for the forest. Chico Mendes in his own words. London: Latin America Bureau.
Pollan, M. (2008). In defence of food. The Myth of nutrition and the pleasure of eating. London/New York: Penguin.
Roosevelt, A. C. (1989). Lost civilizations of the Lower Amazon. Natural History, 74–83.
Roosevelt, A. C., et al. (1996). Paleoindian Cave Dwellers in the Amazon: The peopling of the Americas. Science, 272(1996), 373–384.
Singer, P. (2004). One world. The ethics of globalization. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
Sollund, R. (Ed.). (2008). Global harms. Ecological crime and speciesism. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
South, N. (2007). The ‘corporate colonisation of nature’: Bio-prospecting, bio-piracy and the development of green criminology. In P. Beirne & N. South (Eds.), Issues in green criminology: Confronting harms against environments, humanity and other animals. Devon: Willan.
Tsing, A. L. (2005). Friction. An ethnography of global connection. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Tudge, C. (2006). The tree. A natural history of what trees are, how they live and why they matter. New York: Crown Publishers.
Verweij, P., Schouten, M., van Beukering, P., Triana, J., van der Leeuw, K., & Hess, S. (2009). Keeping the Amazon forests standing: A matter of values. Zeist: WWF Netherlands.
White, R. (2008). Crimes against nature. Environmental criminology and ecological justice. Devon: Willan Publishing.
White, R. (Ed.). (2010). Global environmental harm. Criminological perspectives. Devon: Willan.
Wilson, E. O. (2002). The future of life. New York: Vintage (Random House).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boekhout van Solinge, T. Deforestation Crimes and Conflicts in the Amazon. Crit Crim 18, 263–277 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-010-9120-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-010-9120-x