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Perfectly aligned lines of eucalyptus clones flank the Baixa Verde community in north-eastern Brazil. The uniform trees stand in stark contrast to the remnants of wild Atlantic forest, one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth.

Bordered by close to 247,000 acres of eucalyptus plantations, Baixa Verde exemplifies a rare local victory over a multinational in Brazil. The rural settlement owes its existence due to almost twenty years of court disputes over property claims – yet the conflict continues.

After fighting to retain their land, the households now face an unprecedented security crisis marked by violent encounters, arson and threats on their lives, within a surge of aggression driven by a territorial conflict that has intensified since 2024.

Conflicts over property ownership have historically been an issue in the region. Obtaining property titles is often considered to legitimise land grabs from indigenous populations, and local people had believed that a wood-pulp manufacturer was planting eucalyptus trees on public land.

In 2008, one of the founders of the Baixa Verde settlement and another community member visited government archives to inspect official papers. They found the page that demonstrated the 3,200 acres in dispute were publicly owned. “We always knew that it was state property,” states the community leader.

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

Two years after the initial takeover, the movement secured official acknowledgment that the company did not legally own the property section cultivated by the firm. “This document was a victory not just for the local land rights movement but for all the civil society groups of Brazil,” says a community member who grew up in the encampment and is now one of the leaders of the movement.

After years of roadblocks and court fights, the Bahia state government signed an agreement with the corporation and the movement in 2016, restoring 3,200 acres of company land to the government and providing each family a plot sufficiently sized to grow their own food. Of the 61 families remaining, fifty-three have relocated into their new plots.

“Securing entitlement to the property means that we now have a space to look after our youngest ones,” says the settlement representative.

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Although forfeiting the property, a corporate spokesperson maintains that the firm has always functioned with “openness, social and environmental responsibility” and consideration for the local population. “The company has never been convicted of illegal land acquisition and reaffirms that its production areas are legally regulated and function with the required environmental permits.”

However, in the years since the settlement, the households 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 occupied by agricultural workers affiliated with the regional labor organization. When it was about to lose control of the disputed property, the corporation gave 300 nearby hectares to the labor group – a donation confirmed by the organization’s directors.

“There is a lot of persecution happening around here. Our shelters have been set on fire, as well as our cane plantations.”

During the last four years, six organizers of the movement have been assigned protective monitoring by the national defense system for human rights defenders, communicators and ecology advocates. The authorities has suggested that some of these leaders relocate, but due to dedication to the cause and connection with their fought-for property, they have refused.

Due to the death threats he has received, one founder says he has difficulty resting at night. “I am really scared that something is going to happen to my family,” he says.

The movement states that eight families do not feel safe enough to cultivate their plots, which remain inhabited by farmers allegedly associated with the corporation.

The corporation says that over the past 15 years, it has allocated “over 49,000 acres to land redistribution programs, whether through court settlements, donations to the National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform, donations, or straight purchases, to resolve ongoing conflicts in the territory.”

The firm also says “the establishment of the communities – from planning to parceling and plot allocation – was managed completely by the regional authorities, without interference from the corporation”, and “does not comment on disputes among activist groups”.

A community member is among the two individuals who still live in the original settlement. She says she has been harassed by weapon-carrying individuals who encircled her home and shot at the ground. Since no one lives nearby, the resident – who lives alone – thinks the gunfire were intended to threaten her out of reclaiming her assigned plot.

In August, the Bahia state government authorised the removal of labor group-associated agricultural workers who remain on settlement properties – but the ruling has yet to be enforced.

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Environmental Challenges and the ‘Emerald Wasteland’

Besides defending against danger and aggression, transforming properties once used for single-crop eucalyptus farming into food production is now the main challenge for the Baixa Verde communities. Eucalyptus production is controlled by major international corporations that, from the 1960s onward, have been transforming agricultural and woodland areas into monoculture plantations, motivated by international market needs.

The country is the world’s largest producer of eucalyptus, a fast-growing, thirsty crop, whose fiber is shipped abroad to make packaging materials and paper products. The majority of the nation’s eucalyptus pulp is exported to Europe, where it is used to make stationery items often marketed as a renewable alternative to plastics – despite the environmental damage resulting from single-crop farming.

In Bahia, the expansion of these farms has received the regional nickname “emerald wasteland”, due to the disappearance of native species and the severe shortage of water and land experienced by households residing close to eucalyptus plantations.

A settlement founder grew up in the region and recalls the waterway before the area was transformed by eucalyptus monoculture. “We used to cross it in a boat. It was full,” he says. “After the company arrived, it disappeared.” He attributes the water scarcity to the corporation’s appearance in 1991.

The corporation says it “implements a varied management approach, in which eucalyptus is cultivated in plateau areas, while lowlands, water sources and indigenous plants are protected. This system ensures soil protection, animal habitat preservation and the maintenance of water resources.” The company also says it “performs ongoing observation of small watersheds in its area of operation” and “creates tree-planting and woodland renewal initiatives in areas near communities”.

In the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais, the eucalyptus region of Turmalina municipality has seen its aquifer depth decrease by 4.5 metres over the previous four decades, according to researchers at the state university.

Vegetation under eucalyptus monoculture absorbs 26% of rainfall to restore groundwater levels – versus a half of rainfall intake linked to native forest. Three-quarters of agricultural households interviewed in Minas Gerais reported their crops being affected by the shortage.

The cultivation of eucalyptus also poses an increased risk of wildfire. Farms are highly combustible that Chile rejected the species as a viable climate solution after a series of large wildfires in its domestic plantations.

Notwithstanding ecological dangers, eucalyptus plantations continue to have an important function in the carbon market, with trees being sold as emission offsets to fossil fuel polluters to offset their emissions. Despite opposition from campaigners, in {