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Razor-straight lines of eucalyptus clones border the Baixa Verde community in Brazil’s northeast. These identical trees stand in stark contrast to the remnants of native Atlantic woodland, among the planet’s richest biological habitats globally.

Surrounded by close to 247,000 acres of commercial eucalyptus groves, Baixa Verde exemplifies a uncommon community triumph over a multinational in Brazil. The rural settlement exists today due to almost twenty years of legal battles over property claims – but the fight is not over yet.

After fighting to retain their land, the families now face an unprecedented security crisis marked by violent encounters, arson and death threats, part of a wave of violence driven by a land dispute that has escalated since 2024.

Conflicts over land rights have historically been an problem in the area. Obtaining property titles is often considered to legitimise land grabs from traditional communities, and residents had suspected that a wood-pulp manufacturer was planting eucalyptus trees on government property.

During 2008, a founding member of the Baixa Verde settlement and a local activist examined public records to inspect official papers. They discovered the document that proved the 1,300 hectares in contention were owned by the government. “We always knew that it was state property,” says the community leader.

Armed with this evidence, they assembled 91 local families and aligned with the Landless Workers Movement, a political and social organisation advocating for land redistribution. Their initial step was to occupy an area of a tree farm used by the company, alleging the firm of using public land.

Following two years after the initial takeover, the organization won state recognition that the company did not legally own the parcel of land planted by the company. “This ruling was a victory not just for the community property campaign but for all the social movements of the country,” says a settlement resident who was raised in the settlement and is now a key organizer of the movement.

Following many years of roadblocks and legal battles, the Bahia state government signed an agreement with the corporation and the movement in 2016, restoring 1,300 hectares of company land to the government and giving each family a parcel large enough to cultivate their crops. Of the sixty-one households staying, fifty-three have relocated into their assigned lands.

“Winning a right to the land means that we now have a space to look after our children,” says the settlement representative.

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Although forfeiting the property, a corporate spokesperson asserts that the firm has always functioned with “transparency, community and ecological accountability” and consideration for the area residents. “The corporation has never been found guilty of illegal land acquisition and restates that its production areas are lawfully governed and operate with the required environmental permits.”

Yet, in the years since the agreement, the families say they have encountered death threats, shooting incidents, destroyed residences, taken crops and ruined farmland.

Per information from the organization, the conflict now focuses on property parcels that remain inhabited by farmers affiliated with the regional labor organization. When it was about to lose possession of the disputed property, the company gave 300 nearby hectares to the union – a contribution confirmed by the organization’s directors.

“We face significant harassment occurring in this area. Our tents have been burned down, as well as our cane plantations.”

Over the past four years, six organizers of the organization have been assigned protective monitoring by the national defense system for rights activists, communicators and environmentalists. The government has suggested that some of these leaders relocate, but out of loyalty to the movement and bond to their hard-won land, they have declined.

Due to the death threats he has obtained, a community pioneer says he has difficulty resting at night. “I feel genuinely fearful that something is going to happen to my family,” he says.

The movement claims that eight families do not feel safe enough to farm their lands, which remain inhabited by agricultural workers allegedly associated with the company.

The company says that during the previous fifteen years, it has designated “more than 20,000 hectares to agrarian reform initiatives, whether through judicial agreements, donations to the federal land reform agency, donations, or straight purchases, to settle persistent disputes in the territory.”

The company also says “the creation of the settlements – from design to subdivision and lot definition – was managed completely by the regional authorities, without interference from the corporation”, and “does not comment on disputes among activist groups”.

One resident is one of the two people who still live in the old encampment. She says she has been intimidated by weapon-carrying individuals who encircled her home and fired weapons nearby. Since no one lives nearby, the woman – who resides by herself – believes the gunshots were intended to threaten her out of reclaiming her assigned plot.

In August, the Bahia state government authorised the removal of union farmers who remain on Baixa Verde lots – but the decision has yet to be enforced.

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Ecological Obstacles and the ‘Emerald Wasteland’

Besides defending against threats and violence, converting lands previously utilized for single-crop eucalyptus farming into food production is now the main challenge for the settlement residents. Tree cultivation is dominated by major international corporations that, since the 1960s, have been transforming agricultural and woodland areas into single-crop farms, motivated by global demand.

The country is the global leading grower of the tree species, a rapidly developing, water-intensive plant, whose pulp is shipped abroad to make cardboard and writing materials. The majority of the nation’s eucalyptus pulp is shipped to European nations, where it is used to make paper products often promoted as a renewable alternative to synthetic materials – notwithstanding ecological harm caused by single-crop farming.

Within Bahia state, the proliferation of these plantations has received the regional nickname “emerald wasteland”, due to the loss of wildlife and the critical lack of water and land faced by families living near eucalyptus plantations.

One community leader grew up in the region and recalls the waterway before the region was changed by eucalyptus monoculture. “We previously traversed it in a boat. It was full,” he says. “Following corporate establishment, it disappeared.” He attributes the water scarcity to the company’s arrival in 1991.

The company says it “implements a varied management approach, in which trees are grown in elevated regions, while valleys, springs and native vegetation are protected. This model guarantees ground conservation, wildlife conservation and the maintenance of water resources.” The company also says it “conducts continuous monitoring of micro-basins in its area of operation” and “creates tree-planting and woodland renewal initiatives in locations adjacent to settlements”.

Within the adjacent region of Minas Gerais, the eucalyptus region of Turmalina has seen its aquifer depth decrease by 4.5 metres over the past 45 years, per scientific studies at the state university.

Vegetation under eucalyptus monoculture absorbs 26% of rainfall to replenish aquifer reserves – compared with a half of rainfall intake linked to native forest. Three-quarters of agricultural households surveyed in Minas Gerais reported their crops being affected by the scarcity.

The growing of the tree species also presents a heightened danger of forest fire. Plantations are so flammable that Chile ruled out eucalyptus as a practical environmental answer after a succession of major blazes in its national farms.

Despite the environmental risks, commercial tree farms continue to have an important function in the carbon market, with plants being marketed as emission offsets to petroleum companies to offset their emissions. Although facing resistance from activists, in {