The Human Cost

Rondônia — The Human Cost.

10 moments in this segment.

1. 1988 — Chico Mendes, 1988. Chico Mendes the year of his death. His killing made the human cost of Amazon deforestation an international cause.
2. 1988 — Chico Mendes at the Rubber Tree. Rubber-tapper and union leader Chico Mendes, 1988. He organized Amazon forest peoples against clearing and was murdered that December.
3. 1988-12-22 — The murder of Chico Mendes. Rubber-tapper and union leader Chico Mendes, who fought to save the forest, was murdered by ranchers in December 1988.
4. 2019-01-01 — Land conflict and violence. The frontier is violent: land-grabbers, gunmen and the killing of activists and small farmers.
5. 2019-08-01 — The Bolsonaro years. Under President Bolsonaro (2019-2022), enforcement was gutted and deforestation surged to a 15-year high.
6. 2019-11-01 — The forest guardians. Indigenous 'forest guardians' risk their lives confronting illegal loggers — several have been killed.
7. 2020-01-01 — The Uru-eu-wau-wau's fight. The Uru-eu-wau-wau people patrol their territory against invaders who burn and clear their forest.
8. 2020-01-01 — Uprooted communities. Traditional rubber-tappers, riverine communities and Indigenous peoples are pushed off the land they depend on.
9. Uru-eu-wau-wau Territory. The Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Land in Rondônia — protected forest that invaders repeatedly clear and burn, often violently.
10. Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve. The extractive reserve named for Chico Mendes — a model of protected forest where traditional communities harvest without clearing.