Founded in 2003, GJEP is a US 501c3 non-profit organization and envisions a world in which all societies are justly and equitably governed with full participation by an engaged and informed populace living in harmony with the natural world and one another.

We accomplish our mission by:

(1) prioritizing campaigns that are key leverage points for advancing systemic change, and

(2) linking struggles and strengthening diverse movements with strategic action, information, and analysis.

GJEP, founded in 2003, is a US 501c3 non-profit organization and envisions a world in which all societies are justly and equitably governed with full participation by an engaged and informed populace living in harmony with the natural world and one another.

We accomplish our mission by:

(1) prioritizing campaigns that are key leverage points for advancing systemic change, and

(2) linking struggles and strengthening diverse movements with strategic action, information, and analysis.

Brazil: International Campaign to STOP GE Trees Meetings and Events (May – June 2023)

Purpose: What we found on our global delegation to Brazil

Global Justice Ecology Project brought together members of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees from US, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Brazil, UK and Canada in Brazil to develop plans for the international campaign to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees, and to support and highlight opposition to Suzano pulp and paper company’s rapid expansion of industrial eucalyptus plantations, and potential use of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees modified to tolerate toxic herbicides.

GJEP and the Campaign met with Brazilian NGOs, Indigenous, and Quilombola communities, and MST (Landless Workers Movement) members in order to document and amplify the voices and concerns of rural communities on the front lines of resisting the devastating social and ecological impacts of industrial eucalyptus plantations.

In the Quilombola and Indigenous communities, over and over we heard stories about land grabbing, the drying up of rivers and lakes due to the water-greedy plantations, the drift of agrotoxins into communities and onto their crops, surveillance by guards and by drones intended to intimidate the communities to stop resisting, loss of traditional hunting and fishing territories, and the flight of families into the cities because they can no longer support themselves.

We then took these concerns to Brazil’s Capital city Brasilia where we presented them to several Ministries. Josenea, a member of one of the Quilombola communities, accompanied us to testify directly to them about the impacts her community is facing. We first met with the Environmental Caucus of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, followed by meetings with the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and the Ministry of Agrarian Development.

There were many pledges of support for the communities from the Ministries and we will be following the progress of these pledges along with our partners in Brazil.

The MST has been continuing their efforts to take back lands from Suzano’s eucalyptus plantations to give landless families a place to farm, including education about use of agroecological practices that do not use agrotoxins. These visits were a lens into what is possible here in Brazil as the MST settlements collectively are one of Brazil’s largest food producers, demonstrating that large-scale agribusiness with its social and ecological devastation, is not necessary.

List of Demands

The list of demands we submitted to these Ministries, which we also submitted in Portuguese, can be read here.

Purpose: What we found on our global delegation to Brazil

Global Justice Ecology Project brought together members of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees from US, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Brazil, UK and Canada in Brazil to develop plans for the international campaign to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees, and to support and highlight opposition to Suzano pulp and paper company’s rapid expansion of industrial eucalyptus plantations, and potential use of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees modified to tolerate toxic herbicides.

GJEP and the Campaign met with Brazilian NGOs, Indigenous, and Quilombola communities, and MST (Landless Workers Movement) members in order to document and amplify the voices and concerns of rural communities on the front lines of resisting the devastating social and ecological impacts of industrial eucalyptus plantations.

In the Quilombola and Indigenous communities, over and over we heard stories about land grabbing, the drying up of rivers and lakes due to the water-greedy plantations, the drift of agrotoxins into communities and onto their crops, surveillance by guards and by drones intended to intimidate the communities to stop resisting, loss of traditional hunting and fishing territories, and the flight of families into the cities because they can no longer support themselves.

We then took these concerns to Brazil’s Capital city Brasilia where we presented them to several Ministries. Josenea, a member of one of the Quilombola communities, accompanied us to testify directly to them about the impacts her community is facing. We first met with the Environmental Caucus of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, followed by meetings with the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and the Ministry of Agrarian Development.

There were many pledges of support for the communities from the Ministries and we will be following the progress of these pledges along with our partners in Brazil.

The MST has been continuing their efforts to take back lands from Suzano’s eucalyptus plantations to give landless families a place to farm, including education about use of agroecological practices that do not use agrotoxins. These visits were a lens into what is possible here in Brazil as the MST settlements collectively are one of Brazil’s largest food producers, demonstrating that large-scale agribusiness with its social and ecological devastation, is not necessary.

List of Demands

The list of demands we submitted to these Ministries, which we also submitted in Portuguese, can be read here.

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