The legacy of Chico Mendes: the man who gave his life for the Amazon

In February, Brazil’s new Environment Minister Ricardo Salles was being grilled on weekly interview show Roda Viva. Awarded the cabinet seat despite never having visited the Amazon rainforest, Mr. Salles was quizzed on his knowledge of key environmentalist figures, and became increasingly irritated at his own ignorance of his field.

Asked about what he thought of Chico Mendes, the most famous of Brazilian environmentalists, Mr. Salles stuttered, replying indignantly, “what difference does it make who Chico Mendes is?”

At a time when the Amazon rainforest is burning and attracting widespread international attention, many would say that Brazil’s Environment Minister knowing who Chico Mendes does, in fact, make a significant difference.

Chico Mendes was a rubber tapper, trade-unionist, and environmentalist who fought to change how Brazil made use of its forests. One of the forefathers of the concept of sustainable development in the Amazon—creating wealth from the forest without felling trees—he is partly responsible for the model of environmental preservation employed today by the Brazilian government.

Humble beginnings

Born in 1944 in the rural town of Xapuri, in the northern state of Acre, Chico Mendes followed his father into the rubber tapping trade at a very young age. The rubber trade is punishing work. Tapping trees involves spending much of one’s time in deep...