“I closed the forestry operation down and laid off 1,000 people.” All Brazilians? “Yes. To protect the forest.” He sees the look on my face. “Now we get to the heart of this problem. It’s an interesting dilemma. You have about eight million people in the Amazonas, 7.99 million of whom are poor. They need the jobs. So how do they get employed? Cutting trees.” But people still have to eat – if you fire them, surely they will log illegally? “No. I have security people to control things, but in all honesty, you can’t do that.” Although he is at pains to point out that the layoffs were done properly, in conversation with local authorities and members of the government who are friends of his, it seems that this is just one of the costs of saving the planet.
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