Link to Social Documentary Network gallery: https://www.socialdocumentary.net/exhibit/Orin_Langelle/6827
Abstract: This exhibit, “Brazil’s Green Deserts and Eucalyptus Invasion,” documents Indigenous Peoples, Quilombola communities and social movements in Brazil struggling to reclaim their lands from industrial eucalyptus plantations.
The photos were taken in 2023 in the states of Espiritó Santo, Bahía and Mato Grosso do Sul during an investigative delegation by Global Justice Ecology Project, which spoke with communities both resisting and impacted by the pulp industry and plantations.
Brazilian eucalyptus plantations are called “green deserts” due to their destructive impacts, including depletion of water and soils, destruction of native forests, chemical contamination of water and forced displacement of communities.
In Brazil, eucalyptus plantations, cover millions of hectares. They are expanding due to a sharp rise in global demand for pulp. And Brazil recently legalized use of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees modified to grow faster, tolerate toxic herbicide spraying and kill insects. This will exacerbate the already serious problems of eucalyptus plantations.
This essay documents the determination and resistance of communities at risk, including Quilombolas, Indigenous Ofayé, and the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), highlighting their struggles for land and sovereignty.