Facebook In The Amazon Forest Illegal Trade
JAKARTA - Part of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is known to be sold illegally on Facebook. These protected areas include national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples. The classifieds service on Facebook features a section of the forest the size of a thousand football fields.
The findings were reported by the BBC. We can easily find parts of the forest that are being sold illegally.
Just try typing words - in Portuguese - like, "forest", "native" forest, even "wood" into the Facebook Marketplace search engine and selecting a state in the Amazon as the location. Some of the findings even feature imagery satellites and GPS coordinates.
Many sellers openly admit to having no rights to land, the only document that proves land ownership under Brazilian law. Many say the illegal activity was triggered by the Brazilian cattle industry.
Charges for Facebook
Facebook responded by saying it was "ready to cooperate with local authorities." Even so, Facebook shows no sign of taking independent action to stop the trading.
"Our trade policy requires buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations," said Facebook, as quoted by the BBC, Saturday, February 27.
The leader of one of the affected indigenous groups urged Facebook to act decisively. On the other hand, environmental campaigners said the state government consciously tolerated this illegal act. And so far they have shown no sign of stopping the sales.
"The land occupiers feel so empowered that they are not ashamed to use Facebook to make illegal land deals," said Ivaneide Bandeira, head of the environmental NGO Kanindé.
Deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil has reached its highest point in ten years. And Facebook's digital marketplace has become a destination for illegal land traffickers.
Fabricio Giuimaraes, for example, who the BBC filmed on hidden cameras, said, "There is no risk of being checked by state agents here," he said as he walked through a patch of rainforest that had been burned to the ground.
With land cleared illegally and ready for farming, he has doubled his initial asking price to USD 35,000. Fabricio is not a farmer. He has a middle-class job in the city. With his regular job, Fabricio sees the rainforest as an investment.