alex gallafent

Just back at the hotel from my first interview of the trip. It was with Marta Cunha, Amazonas coordinator for the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a civil society organisation affiliated with the Catholic Church. The CPT’s history is steeped in the liberation theology that dominated South American Catholic thought in the late 60s and 70s. Faith isn’t enough, nor is good work alone, according to L.T. Work and faith must be allied to political action, specifically political action to reduce poverty and eliminate oppression. I suspect there’s a better way of putting it, so do let me know if you can improve on that.

In any case, Cunha was clear that the CPT acts independently of the Church these days. And in Amazonas, at least, its work concerns both protection of the local environment and development of the working poor. I haven’t listened back to the interview yet, but I know that it’s fairly confusing stuff. First, you’ve got differences between what happens at state and federal level (no surprise there for Americans.) Then there are the different kinds of land ‘owners’, ranging from indigenous communities through smallholders (some of whom arrived as squatters) and on to large-scale soy & cattle farmers and governments (state, federal). Add to that large-scale migration of people from the south of Brazil, many with an eye on some Amazonas land, and you get a confused picture. I can’t pretend I get it yet, not at all. I did a bunch of reading before I left, but already it feels like what I’m after is breezing through the high branches, just out of reach. We shall see, I guess.

Tomorrow I hope to see the wood from the trees, literally. Ursula and I will be up early to drive to INPA, the National Institute of Amazonian Research. From INPA HQ here in Manaus, we’ll travel just over 80km to the Cuieiras Reserve, an area of preserved rainforest. The idea is to see – and hopefully climb – one of the LBA canopy towers, shining giraffes of metal that poke up through the top of the forest. The Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment is an international research initiative led by Brazil - I’ll interview one of the INPA scientists working there and hopefully grab a few photos too.

Oh yes, and my luggage arrived too. Goodbye Captain Sweat-a-lot.

Finally, I just tried my first Brazilian beer, a bottle of Bohemia (est. 1853). Impartiality be damned: it was delicious.