Chico Mendes

Chico Mendes wiki

"In 1985, Chico founded the National Council of Rubber Tappers, a non-governmental group to defend the living and working conditions of communities that depend on the forest. He also organized the first National Meeting of Rubber Tappers in Brasilia with the support of anthropologist Mary Helena Allegretti."

"In June 1987 Chico received the Global 500 Award of the United Nations, which catapulted him to international fame. Although, the Brazilian government and the media in his country ignored him, Chico was rewarded in London with international media coverage. Later on, in New York, he received the Better World Society Prize, created by Ted Turner, the CNN owner. Chico estimated that with the cost of each breakfast in the Waldorf Astoria, a rubber tapper's family could live for about fourth months."

"In the 1970's and early 1980's, Environmental Defense Fund anthropologist Dr. Stephan Schwartzman worked closely with Chico Mendes researching and advocating the extractive reserves idea.

"In 1987, Schwartzman and Environmental Defense Fund invited Chico to attend the Inter-American development bank (IDB) annual meeting. He was introduced to influential members of the Administration and Congress."

Related Books and Articles

 * Susanna Hecht, "Chico Mendes: Chronicle of a Death Foretold", New Left Review I/173, January-February 1989.
 * Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon (Harpercollins, 1990).
 * Augusta Dwyer, Into the Amazon: The Struggle for the Rain Forest (Sierra Club Books, 1990).
 * Adrian Cowell, The Decade of Destruction: The Crusade to Save the Amazon Rainforest (Holt, 1990).
 * Tony Gross, Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in His Own Words (Monthly Review Press, 1991).
 * Alex Shoumatoff, ''The World Is Burning: Murder in the Rain Forest (Avon Books, 1991).
 * Kenneth Maxwell, "The Mystery of Chico Mendes", The New York Review of Books, Volume 38, Number 6 · March 28, 1991. response
 * Kenneth Maxwell, "The Tragedy of the Amazon", The New York Review of Books, Volume 38, Number 5 · March 7, 1991. response
 * Gomercindo Rodrigues Edited and translated by Linda Rabben, Walking the Forest with Chico Mendes: Struggle for Justice in the Amazon (University of Texas Press, 2007).Introduction by Biorn Maybury-Lewis (foreword by Marina Silva)

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Environmental Defense Fund creates the Chico Mendes Sustainable Rainforest Campaign to promote the preservation of rainforest.
 * Birute Galdikas
 * Barbara Pyle
 * Sierra Club Chico Mendes Award