Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 26
1 and there were just areas around cities and areas around
2 roads which had been cleared. But it was an area basically
3 of forest with the qualification that forest does have some
4 natural areas of Campo, or if you call that savannah in
5 English, of less density. It is not absolutely all dense
6 forest but it is an area which was basically an area of
7 tropical forest which had clearings through it around the
8 towns and around the main roads.
9
10 Q. I think we can probably move on from that then.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, well you have got the last two
13 paragraphs of Miss Branford's statement.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: Am I on the last page already?
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: If you just read the last two paragraphs:
20
21 "Without knowing Brazil, it is impossible to envisage the
22 destructive impact of cattle-rearing on the environment and
23 the people of Brazil. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, huge
24 areas of tropical forest were cleared each year to make way
25 for cattle-rearing. The pace of destruction has eased in
26 recent years, partly because of the protests of Green
27 activists, in Brazil and abroad, and partly because the
28 ranches have not brought the huge profits that were
29 originally anticipated.
30
31 "The soil beneath the luxuriant tropical forest has proved
32 to be largely infertile. Without the forest's protective
33 canopy, nutrients haves leaked out of the soil leaving the
34 ranches with low levels of productivity. At the same time
35 tens of thousands of peasant families have been evicted
36 from their plots, and the indigenous groups driven back
37 deeper into the forest.
38
39 "Although McDonald's have not been at the forefront of this
40 destruction, it seems to me that it cannot disassociate
41 itself from all the harm that has been done. It seems to
42 me clear that McDonald's must still today be buying beef
43 from ranches on land until recently occupied by Guarani and
44 Kadiweu Indians, and at least until 1982, to have bought
45 beef from ranches created from recently cleared tropical
46 forest." That is signed by you on 25th February 1996. Do
47 you stand by that statement?
48 A. I stand by it.
49
50 Q. When you wrote that statement, you did not have this list
51 of the places in Goiania, did you?
52 A. In Goias ---
53
54 Q. In Goias state, sorry?
55 A. -- no.
56
57 Q. So, everything you have said is now to be incorporated as
58 your evidence?
59 A. Yes.
60
