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

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