In 2005, the Brazilian government created the Terra do Meio Ecological Station, with 3,373,133.89 hectares, in an attempt to protect the region from the increasing pressure.
The oldest communities inside the area of the Ecological Station started in the early 20th century as rubber tapping outposts, and their residents still lead a life the blends almost seamlessly with the surrounding nature. They gather Brazil nuts and other seeds prized by the cosmetic industry, which they trade for goods. They grow small subsistence crops and hunt and fish to complement their diets, causing minimal damage to the environment.
In recent decades, though, new communities were created with a different relationship with the environment, mostly by poor immigrants from Brazil’s arid northeast.
Despite the protected status of the area, those settlers were attracted to Terra do Meio by the perception that it is empty land, a place where they have the possibility of becoming the owners of small cattle ranches or farms. The forest stands as the only obstacle in their way.
This project is about those two conflicting ways of life, a microcosm of the forces currently shaping the Brazilian Amazon