Travel Notes: Working Exchange Fellow Fernando Baptista

Attorney Fernando Baptista of Brazil’s Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) put many miles on the E-LAW bicycle this fall. Fernando came to Eugene as a Working Exchange Fellow to help protect indigenous rights and the environment in Brazil.

Fernando Baptista, Brazil

A vintage three-speed Schwinn gave him freedom to pedal between his home and office at E-LAW U.S. and classes at the University of Oregon School of Law and American English Institute.

“What I enjoy the most is sharing experiences and talking strategy with public interest lawyers from other parts of the world. We face similar issues and it’s valuable to meet face-to-face,” he said.

During Fernando’s three-month visit, he shared housing with E-LAW advocates from the Philippines, Moldova and Sri Lanka. E-LAW advocates from 50 countries collaborate daily through E-LAW’s electronic conference. Meeting in person, through Working Exchange visits or at Annual Meetings, builds the personal ties that make the E-LAW network strong.

Fernando spent time in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood where he met with local environmental activists. “These activists have a social conscience. Meeting them was a rich experience,” he said.

Attorneys at ISA have been active in the E-LAW network since 1993. In a recent landmark case, ISA won compensation for the Panará, an indigenous group that suffered many losses when a government highway project brought an epidemic of diseases to their remote forest area. This was the first time the Brazilian Government was found responsible for inflicting harm upon indigenous peoples.

“The path to sustainability depends on bringing marginalized peoples and minorities into the decision making process. These people, particularly the indigenous communities, fishermen and small farmers, can teach our industrialized society to live in harmony with nature. They have done so for hundreds of years,” says Fernando.

Brazil is home to more species of primates, amphibians and plants than any other country. Many of these species are under threat due to destruction of rainforests, desertification in the northeast, poaching in the Pantanal and coastal pollution.

Brazil’s indigenous peoples have been under threat as well. An estimated two to five million indigenous people lived in Brazil when the Portuguese first arrived. Mining and logging operations have moved into their territory and reduced the population to fewer than 300,000. Now, the future is looking brighter and the number of indigenous people is increasing.

At ISA’s Sao Paulo office, Fernando divides his time between litigation, community support and research on socioenvironmental law. He helps indigenous groups build strong organizations and provides information about social and environmental issues.

In Eugene, Fernando worked with E-LAW U.S. staff to tap legal and scientific resources, including information on: protecting indigenous rights in environmentally protected areas; U.S. standards for water quality and effluent emissions; legal protections for endangered plants in logging areas in the U.S.; and legal tools used around the world to protect indigenous cultural property rights.

E-LAW U.S. staff provided Fernando with U.S. forestry regulations; information on endangered species protection; American Indian rights to hunt, fish and gather; as well as corporate and scientific research to help ISA campaign against destruction of rainforests and mangroves by Brazil’s tobacco and shrimp industries.

Fernando says that while contact between indigenous groups in Brazil and the outside world is inevitable, ISA is building bridges that give communities the tools they need to protect themselves. “Indigenous groups need the choice to participate, or not, in the outside world,” he said.

For more information on Instituto Socioambiental, visit http://www.socioambiental.org.