My task is to translate, photograph, film and get permission to accompany the Brasilian government's Mobile Group on a rescue mission to release men, women and children being forced to work in sub-human conditions...[by] unscrupulous land owners...since 1995, 30,000 slaves have been freed. Sandy and I were given permission to follow a group in Boca do Inferno...a sugar-cane plantation near to Cuiabá (MT)...home to Usina Itamarati, the largest sugar refinery in the country, owned by...Olacyr de Moraes...Slave labour is mainly found on the borders of the deforested Amazon Jungle. This type of work force [is] used...by major landowners and businesses that aim to cut down on production costs...Cattle breeding and the production of soya, cotton and sugarcane are the...biggest culprits...As soon as the workers arrive at the ranch, they're already in debt...Workers spend two, three months, sometimes up to a year, and never earn a penny...500,000 people working on the cane fields...spend hours out in the blazing sun to produce ethanol and sugar...[T]he government's 2nd Plan to Eradicate Slave Labour...aims to...increase the government's "black list" of establishments involved in slave labour, punishing these organizations by preventing them from drawing up new financial contracts with a range of Brasilian state-run banks.
Stijn Vernaillen on 07 May 10Ecoinvent v2.1 is a life cycle inventory database that contains more than 4000 LCI datasets in the areas of agriculture, energy supply, transport, biofuels and biomaterials, bulk and speciality chemicals, construction materials, packaging materials, basic and precious metals, metals processing, ICT and electronics as well as waste treatment. The high-quality generic LCI datasets are based on industrial data and have been compiled by internationally renowned research institutes and LCA consultants. The data is available in the EcoSpold data format, and is compatible with all major LCA and eco-design software tools. Ecoinvent is used by more than 1500 users in more than 40 countries worldwide and is included in the leading LCA software tools as well as in various eco-design tools for building and construction, waste management or product design. It can be used for Integrated Product Policy (IPP), Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Management (LCM) and Design for Environment (DfE)."
