Raids in the Rainforest - The Fight for Amazonia
A powerful documentary by Thomas Wartmann for Aljazeera English
At the age of 27, Ana Rafaela D'Amico is the youngest national park director in Brazil. In order to save the rainforest, she has declared war on the drug gangs and logging mafia and on illegal fishing.
The Campos Amazonicos National Park is like a microcosm of all the problems found in Amazonia: illegal logging, cattle breeding, tin mines - and a drugs route that goes right through the middle of the park.
"Our biggest problem here in the park - and all over the Amazon - is that we don't know who the men behind this environmental crime are. We always find the poor man hired to occupy or clear the land. But we seldom find out who is really behind it, who provides the money, or which politicians support and fund these criminal acts."
We face pretty much the same situation in Malaysia - particularly in Sarawak - but thanks to the rapidly growing Green Movement, more and more young people have been galvanized into political activism against relentless and unnecessary "development" - the ultimate crime against Mother Earth!
