Amazon-activist priest backs Food Chain campaign2 March 2009
Father Edilberto Sena, Brazilian priest and defender of the Amazon, has backed our Food Chain campaign.
Father Sena describes the destruction brought by soy plantations
Campaigning back home
Despite receiving death threats he fights to protect the forest and defends the rights of communities.
For the past eight years he has battled Cargill - the giant US farming business. In 2000 they illegally built a port in his home town of Santerem.
With the port in place, expansion of massive soy plantations could go ahead.
Cargill failed to carry out proper environmental checks before building it - so Brazilian courts have repeatedly condemned it. But the port keeps exporting soy to Europe and China.
His campaign in Santarem is helped by the local radio station. He uses it to broadcast to 200,000 listeners.
But he knows that talking to his fellow Brazilians isn't enough.
Soy is a commodity. It is not for us, it is for you in Europe. Resisting this destruction we feel like tiny ants biting at the feet of giants.
Father Edilberto Sena
Spreading the word
During a whistlestop tour of the UK, Father Sena has met with politicians, academics and campaigners.
He came to raise awareness of the damage that European farming policy does in South America.
Factory farming over creates the demand for cheap soy to feed our animals. This allows the likes of Cargill to profit - but causes local people and environment to suffer.
Father Sena hopes his face-to-face talks with politicians over here will push them to take action. They must end the UK's role in deforestation in South America.
Join the Food Chain campaign
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