When Chico Mendes was gunned down in the Amazon in December 1988, his assassin, a rancher named Darcy Alves, hoped to kill off his campaign to prevent forest clearance. Instead, it raised the alarm on the issue in Brazil and across the world, influencing a generation of conservationists and policy makers. Mendes is now a symbol of the global environmental movement in South America.

After starting to tap rubber as a child in Acre state in Brazil’s far west, Mendes co-founded the local branch of the rural workers union and organised demonstrations to stop thousands of square kilometres of rainforest being destroyed for timber and ranching, saving hundreds of families from destitution.

“He showed what we could do against the power of these people who had money, and gunmen, and the protection of the judiciary,” says Marina Silva, a former environment minister and presidential candidate.

The Brazilian singer Monica Vasconcelos reflects on the work of the union leader who only learned to read at 18 but went on to become a powerful advocate for forest people.

“Since Jair Bolsonaro became Brazil’s president at the start of last year, his government has weakened forest protections and encouraged land grabbers to move in. As we face an increase in violence towards local communities and deforestation in the Amazon, its worth looking back and remembering Chico’s extraordinary life,” she says.

Producer: Emily Williams
Series Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4in association with The Open University Show less