Rubber Tappers
Since the 1988 murder of Chico Mendes, the Brazilian rubber tapper who was an organizer
against forest burning, rubber tappers have achieved an honored status in the green
pantheon. But in the late nineteenth century they were considered as bad as cattlemen;
many indigenous Brazilians were killed by tappers fanning into the jungle during the
rubber boom. Today better behaved rubber tappers are considered rainforest allies, as
someday better-behaved loggers may be. Until logging began to spread in Brazil in the
1960s, some Brazilians thought the rainforest had no inherent value: It was an obstacle to
be vanquished, something to be 'tamed.' As sustainable logging is achieved in the
developing world, local populations, including indigenous peoples, will acquire a
long-term interest in keeping the rainforest vibrant. Easterbrook, Gregg.
[ Slash & Burn Agriculture ] [
From the Seat of the Bulldozer ] [ Regrowth
in the Amazon ]
[ Data Collection in the Amazon ] [ Colonization of the Rainforest ]
[ Loving
the Rainforest to Death ] [ Frogs in the Rainforest ]
[ Tropical Deforestation & Habitat Destruction ]
[ The Importance of Forests & the Perils of
Deforestation ] [ Hamburgers in the Rainforest ]
[ References ]
[ PBL Model ]
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