Conference to Discuss Amazon’s Rain Forests Scheduled in Brazil
Rubber tappers, ecologists and Indians gathered Saturday in the Brazilian Amazon town of Rio Branco for a weeklong conference to discuss protection of the rain forests.
The meeting between rubber tappers and Indians, once sworn enemies in the Amazon, is the first of its kind and is partly a result of the work of Chico Mendes, murdered last December.
Mendes, a rubber tappers’ leader, struggled to overcome the century-old history of violence and distrust between the two groups and to build what he called an alliance of forest peoples.
Organizers said about 300 people were expected to attend.
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